Sound of Heroes
by BANIX
Summary: I have no clue what I had gotten myself into when I decided to be a hero. I don't even know if I even like the sound of being a hero. All I know is that I want to make the most out of my second life in a world I barely had any knowledge about. (Reincarnated OC)
1. Chapter 1- Onpa Hibiki

I will go straight to the point.

One, I have been reincarnated.

Two, this is the world of My Hero Academia.

Three, my new identity here is now Onpa Hibiki.

And I don't know what to expect in the future.

This is a world where having superpowers is normal. This is a world which is supposed to be fiction.

This is a world where I only bothered to browsed through only the first arc or two in my previous life before I dropped it. I have close to no idea what will happen in the future.

Should I be a hero?

In all fairness, my second life isn't that bad. I have a loving family, complete with loving parents, a doting older brother, and a cute younger sister. I am the middle child, not that I minded much about the problems that comes with being a middle child.

And our family is freaking loaded, which is a plus.

The Onpa family which I now belong to owns a huge network of businesses and corporations that mainly deals with anything related to audio electronics. Speakers, earpieces, headphones, as long as it has anything to do with sound, you can be sure that our family is involved in it one way or another.

Not gonna lie, it feels good to be a part of a rich family. I have it a lot easier than most.

I can choose the easy way out. Be the good boy that I am, do well in my studies, help run the family business and be filthy rich and subsequently comfortably set for life.

The drawback? That kind of life is definitely a life that is going to be boring as hell.

My older brother, Hideo, used to be a hero for a short while before he was forced to retire. He is older than me by a good 15 years (I'm thinking that my birth was seriously an accident due to a lack of protection). My brother didn't go into the specifics when I asked, but I knew enough to know that his spine had been injured on a mission gone wrong and that it is too dangerous for him to continue to be a hero with that kind of permanent injury. My brother then chose to retire and help my parents run the family business. He is most likely going to be the one to take over the family business.

My younger sister, Hoshi, is a cute two-year-old girl that follows me everywhere. My parents and older brother are often not at home during the day, so it is up to me and the servants to care for her and keep her company. We all love her to bits.

I am a five-year-old boy that had just awoken his quirk. A five-year-old boy with the soul of an adult, but I don't think anyone is interested in that. People would be more interested in what my quirk is.

It is Sound Wave Manipulation, but my family and I call it Sound Wave for short.

I guess it makes sense for me to have such a quirk considering the family I was born into. My family has been in the audio business for generations. My father has a quirk that allows him to change his voice into any sound he wants. My mother has a mutant type quirk that gives her bat wings and bat ears. My brother has a quirk that allows him to use his voice to lull people to sleep. It came as no surprise that his hero name used to be 'Jigglypuff' (Yes, the Pokemon franchise is a thing here). My sister is still too young for her quirk to manifest, but we have no doubt that it will be related to sound one way or another.

I laughed at my brother's alias for a good whole 15 minutes when I first learnt about it.

I guess my quirk is a lot more versatile when compared to my family. I don't just manipulate sound itself. I can manipulate sound waves to do all sort of different things. I can utilise echolocation like my mother can. I can amplify and reduce sounds at a whim. I can change the frequency, pitch, timbre, pressure, or whatever factors that affects sound itself with enough training.

I am only five this year.

I know sonic weapons are a thing. I am a living sonic weapon if I ever chose to use my quirk for less than stellar purposes. And ain't that a scary thought? Such powers held in the hands of a child that cannot tell right from wrong at this age?

Tells you a lot about the danger lurking about in the society we live in.

I have very limited knowledge of canon but if what I suspect is right, my current age range is very close to the canon characters, close enough for me to get dragged into the shitstorm of a mess that is canon should I ever decide to be a hero in U.A. High.

Should I become one? Do I even want to become one?

I don't know, but I sure as hell don't want to live a boring life. Especially so when I have been fortunate enough to be given a second chance.

So, I decide to take the option that can give me a little more excitement.

I don't think there is a point in trying to stick to canon since heck, most of my knowledge of it is non-existent. I will just do whatever I want.

Hopefully, people that shouldn't die won't die from my appearance in this world.

Not like I would know since I have so little knowledge about canon anyway.

* * *

Elementary school sucks.

I hate studying.

I hate being stuck with noisy brats.

I hate being stuck with noisy brats that just won't stop harping my ears off and trying to be friends with me simply because I am an Onpa.

My family is just that famous and influential.

Problem is, one characteristic of my quirk is that I have superhuman hearing. My ears are extremely sensitive to noise, to the point that I have to constantly wear ear mufflers tailored to my specific needs at all times. Even then, it does not guarantee that my ears will always be protected. Without the mufflers, everything is a loud mess that hurts my head to the point I will just curl up on the floor and scream from the pain. I can somewhat control the explosion of audio input to an extent, but I am not that proficient in controlling my quirk yet.

My mufflers definitely do not protect me from a hoard of screaming banshees known as elementary school children.

It's not like these children want to befriend me out of the goodness of their hearts. Either their parents told them to, or they did it to be with the 'cool' kids in class in order to elevate their 'status'.

Just let me out of here.

It came as no surprise that I chose to be a quiet person in school. As much as I want to tell these children to fuck off, I do have an image to uphold since I am an Onpa. So, all I can do is to plaster a polite smile on my face, give some subtle or maybe not so subtle hints for them to leave me alone and please stop screaming like banshees, and then cross my fingers and hope for the best.

And when the recess bell rings, I would always be the first to disappear before anyone can rope me into any of their stupid childish activities in order for them to "get to know Hibiki-sama better".

God, how did my older brother survive his elementary school days?

I don't want to be swamped by people who sees me as nothing more but the son of my father. I just want my temporary peace and quiet. Hence, I never once visited the cafeteria to buy and eat my meals. I always pack my meals which my mother prepares for me and then eat it quietly on the rooftops, enjoying the temporary silence.

Obviously, the rooftops are out of bounds to all students. Then again, it is precisely because of that which made the rooftops my sanctuary. No one will think of looking for me here, and I am good enough in lockpicking to enter and exit the rooftops without anyone the wiser. Seriously, they should change the lock that gave people access to the rooftops if they really want to keep people out of it. That lock belonged to the museum.

It was also on the rooftops that I would meet the person who would eventually be a very large part of my (second) life, even if I didn't know it at that time.

She is a girl with fair skin and cerulean eyes. Her black hair is styled in a bob that reach her shoulders. Looking back, I don't think I ever saw her in a different hairstyle before.

I still remembered quietly picking the lock as usual and after a soft click that signalled my successful lockpicking, I silently slipped to the rooftops to enjoy my half an hour of peace and quiet before lessons resume again. I closed the metal door behind me gently, turned around, only to find that my favourite spot was already occupied.

We simply stared at each other.

She just stared at me and made no moves to talk, and after approximately five seconds of silence on both our parts, I chose to ignore her and chose another corner for myself instead. If she left me alone, I would leave her alone too.

At least she's quiet. I just want my peace and quiet. If she can give me that, she is more than welcome to stay.

I saw her again during recess the next day, and the day after next, and the day after that. I keep seeing her at the same spot at the same time for the whole of the next week. We never talked to each other, merely gave each other discreet glances when we thought the other wasn't looking. She would always arrive first and be the first among us to leave. I would always arrive second and left after she had exited the rooftops, leaving me to lock the rooftop access so that no one would find out about our secret spot.

It was when the second week came around that she made the first move.

"Yui."

I remembered nearly choking on the onigiri that my mother had made from me when I first heard her voice. If it wasn't for my superhuman hearing, I might have missed it. Her voice was just that soft.

I also remembered thinking that her voice was nice. That was my very first impression of her voice.

"What?"

I remembered turning my head to look at her. By then, we had gotten comfortable enough to sit somewhat close enough to each other so that we can both look over the view of the city from the school's rooftops. It is a stark contrast from how we would sit at opposite corners when we first met each other.

"Kodai Yui. That's my name."

She didn't look at me. Her face was determinedly facing straight ahead but her eyes glancing in the opposite direction from where I was sitting beside her. She seemed tense for some reason.

And I felt kinda bad for making her feel that way. Am I a very intimidating person?

"…Hibiki. Onpa Hibiki. Just call me by my first name, or call me Biki. That works too."

I have no idea why I offered her the choice to use the nickname that I only allow my family to call me by. I think it was because I felt bad that I made a child not even ten years of age afraid of me for reasons unknown.

I can see her twiddling her fingers nervously and I remembered scolding myself. I am an adult, at least mentally, and I don't even know how to deal with a child that I somehow made her feel a great sense of unease.

"Can we… be friends?"

The way she said 'friends' was of such uncertainty that I am certain that she thought I would undoubtedly reject her offer.

And I really felt like a piece of shit for making her feel that way. It wasn't my intention.

"As long as you don't act like those banshees in our school, then okay."

The way her face brightened up slightly made me realised that she is not one to readily show her emotions. She was obviously trying very hard to control her excitement.

I decided that since she had taken the initiative to speak to me, I should take the initiative to close the distance. It is only right.

So, I moved myself closer to her, and I can see how she practically buzzed with excitement at the thought of having a new friend even if she is doing a great job of hiding it.

"So… uh… what class are you from?"

"1-A."

Now I felt really bad. She is from my class and yet I don't recognise her at all.

Yui's personality can be summarised in two words. Namely, 'silent' and 'expressionless'. She does have her quirky sides that makes her, her. It wasn't long before we started to open up and share more about ourselves. By the time we had known each other for a month, I had found out that her favourite food is tomatoes, and she has a habit of saying "Mm!" whenever she's happy.

She showed me her quirk, Size. She can alter the size of objects she interacts with by pressing five of her fingertips together. I had a great sense of déjà vu when I first saw it, because it looks extremely familiar to the point that I am wondering if Yui is a canon character.

I couldn't remember if there was such a character in canon.

I told her that I wanted to be a hero because I don't want to lead a boring life. She told me that being a hero is her dream too.

When our seats in class were finally shuffled, I took this chance to do some secret meddling on my part that made us desk mates. This arrangement is a relief for my ears. My previous desk mates talked non-stop and it was really grating on my sensitive ears. I know Yui won't hurt my ears since she is so quiet.

Yui and I are somehow able to communicate with minimal words, which, hey, I am totally cool with it. We are the loners that prefer to sit at the back of the class and pray that the spotlight don't fall on us. I know Yui is fine in being in the spotlight, she's just not as expressive as your average Joe. I may be quiet in school, but that is what I chose to portray myself as in school. My behaviour at home is an entirely different story. I have no problems being the goofy son and brother if it means bringing smiles to my family. I am forever grateful to them for loving me, even if there will always be a nagging thought that I am a body snatcher and not their real son.

I don't care. I will be the best son and brother to my family.

The chatty and goofy side of me is only reserved for my family. In school, I am the polite and quiet Onpa heir with a ton of fanboys and fangirls that fawn over me for the wrong reasons.

People soon noticed the closeness between Yui and I, and there were some who gave her flak for it. I dealt with the situation promptly through polite but thinly veiled threats. There are pros in being the most popular guy in school simply because you are the son of one of the most affluent families in Japan.

Yui sees me as Hibiki, me for who I am. In this day and age where our society is polluted with materialism, the quiet girl is more than what I could ever ask for in a friend.

Yui made schooling bearable, and it wasn't long before we became inseparable. We often go and left school together. Both our houses are within walking distance from the school and our city is relatively safer as compared to most. Even my paranoid parents felt assured enough in our city's security to let me walk to school and back by myself.

Naturally, Yui and I visited each other's houses enough times to the point that we both know each other's family extremely well. I often brought my sister, Hoshi, along as well whenever I visit her house since I know Hoshi can be extremely bored playing by herself. Yui is also very fond of Hoshi, so that is a plus.

My childhood wasn't exciting, but it was pleasant.

As with all childhoods, time passed in the blink of an eye. Yui and I did extremely well in our leaving examinations and we both decide to enrol in the same Junior High school.

Our end goal is to make the cut to be enrolled in U.A. High after completing Junior High. For that end, we trained relentlessly.

I don't know where this life will take me. Still, I'm glad that I have people in this world who are important to me and who love me for who I am. Even if it's just one person, I'm glad that I had made a friend. I'm glad that I had made a true friend that sees me for who I truly am.

My name is Onpa Hibiki, and this is the start of my story to be a hero.

* * *

AN: I really shouldn't be writing any new stories, especially when my finals are near. I want to blame the good BnHA fanfics that I had read for this but I know it is not anybody's fault but my own. In any case, I really need to get this plot bunny out of my mind before I can really concentrate on my studies or it will be stuck there until something is done about it.

The last time I read the manga was like two or so years ago. I don't even remember most of the characters' names other than the few which keeps popping up in BnHA fanfics and even then I am too lazy to check one by one to match the names with a face. If I got some facts wrong, well, just accept it as an AU and move on.

This fic will most likely have very slow updates, seeing as the only reason why it is here is because I just really want to get this out of my mind.

In any case, hope you enjoy the stories


	2. Chapter 2- Kodai Yui

She knows she's quiet.

She knows she's not the most expressive person.

She knows that the above two traits of hers always made it hard for her to make friends.

She knows that mustering the courage to befriend Hibiki was the correct choice, even if it took her an entire week to do it.

He's different from her. He's from an affluent family. He lacks nothing. He speaks little in class but that does not fool her. He chose to speak as little as possible because he cannot stand being around their classmates that never seemed to stop hovering around him and bombarding him with words.

What he heard wasn't words, but unnecessary loud noise that hurt his sensitive ears which made him a slight tad impatient under prolonged exposure. He called such people banshees.

As a quiet and reserved person, she can sympathise with his plight.

She doesn't really fit into any one group in Elementary School. The cafeteria has too many people and there weren't any available seats for a loner like her. The classroom is too eerily silent and people keep giving her odd looks for not having any friends to eat with.

So, she decided to look for a place where she can be alone and away from prying eyes.

She found the perfect location. The rooftops.

She ignored the fact that it is illegal to trespass into said area.

And then he found her, on the rooftops.

She remembered he stared at her, as if silently asking her why she is even there. She remembered looking back, trying to formulate a response, only for her words to get stuck in her throat.

It took one entire week for her to get her words out.

They became fast friends after they broke the ice. She found herself speaking more than one word in her answers and showing more facial expressions whenever it is just the two of them. She realised that Hibiki can actually be a very expressive and talkative person if you see him for who he is, not what society views him as.

They only see him as a potential heir to the Onpa family.

Her classmates got jealous when they learnt that she became his friend without seemingly putting in any effort. She doesn't like these people. They don't see her friend as who he is, but the benefits he can bring to them if they befriended him.

But she is just one person against the entire class. She became a victim of their bullying.

Vandalised desk. Her locker was filled with mud. Her homework was taken out of the pile and ripped to shreds so that the teachers thought that she hadn't submitted it. That was only the tip of the iceberg.

She didn't want to create any trouble for her parents and her new friend, so she endured.

It didn't take Hibiki long to find out and connect the dots. He didn't say a word, but she had never seen him so furious before. It's all displayed clearly in his eyes.

She didn't know what he did. She didn't manage to find out and she didn't dare to ask. He just walked into class one day with that usual jovial smile on his face and said that everything is alright now. She blinked back at him in confusion, only for his hand to rest on her head and ruffled her hair.

He never made a move to mention what he did to get the bullies off her back and she never pried. If he wanted to let her know, he would have.

It wasn't long before he invited her to his house for the first time. Soon, they often studied there after school and if they are bored, they play whatever they wanted to play. His younger sister is always at home, so she joined in frequently.

She also invited them over to her home and visiting each other house for the most mundane of reasons soon became a frequent occurrence.

He wants to be a hero because it would make his life more exciting. He admitted that this is not a valid reason to be a hero, for a true hero should be selfless and possess a heart that will never hesitate to give his all to serve others. Even then, he still wants to be a hero. He accepted his selfishness and forged on ahead, training hard to control his quirk perfectly.

She also wants to be a hero because heroes like Thirteen inspired her. Her own quirk is not as flashy and is not a combat-oriented quirk, but true heroes do more than just beating up villains. She had always been more inspired and impressed by the heroes who helped people in the aftermath of disasters, heroes who specialise in rescue rather than combat because that is what real heroes do. They save people from danger, and not all dangers are villains.

She absolutely hated heroes who became heroes for the sole purpose of gaining popularity and fame, especially those who made a big deal out of beating whatever small-time villains they found. Hibiki said they did that because the hero system is flawed. Heroes are compensated based on their popularity, but it is an irony because heroes are supposed to be selfless and they are not supposed to save people with the thought of compensation in mind. According to him, this whole hero gig has its priorities backwards.

Hibiki very bluntly told her that this society is twisted, that the whole hero business is too thickly wrapped in propaganda to the point that the original meaning of 'heroes' had been so badly warped to suit commercial needs.

Even then, he supported her dream, telling her that it is okay to not be a hero like All Might like everyone is crazy about and to be a hero that focuses on search and rescue. To save the people that really need saving. He told her that her quirk, Size, is suited for it. He told her that she can be a wonderful hero that specialises in search and rescue.

Hibiki is supportive of her dream. He didn't really verbalise most of it, he's not really that type of person to do so. It's in his actions.

"Here."

He remembered handing her a leaflet.

"It's the close combat class I decide to attend since, you know, we both want to be heroes. And every hero needs to learn how to defend themselves regardless of their future specialisation, even without the help of their quirks."

She remembered him shrugging his shoulders and trying his best to act all normal and nonchalant about it, but it didn't fool her eyes. She didn't expose him, that he had definitely made the effort to find a suitable class for her to attend because it had only been two days since she had confided to him that she was considering attending classes to learn more about self-defence.

He knew that she didn't want to attend classes alone, so he accompanied her under the pretence of inviting her over to a class that he 'wanted' to go.

"Okay." She remembered that she gave him a small smile, one that is usually absent from her face.

It was how they both enrolled in the class which taught them the basics of close combat.

She remembered that he hated physical education lessons in elementary school because all the shouting by their classmates during the lessons made his ears hurt no matter how good his muffler is in blocking unneeded noise. His ears are just that sensitive.

She remembered the pain he felt when the class was playing soccer. One of the boys had kicked the ball straight at his face and knocked off his mufflers. He had immediately screamed in pain and covered his ears from the sudden increase in noise he could hear. He was writhing on the floor. He was in so much pain that it hurts her just by seeing it.

She remembered that she had immediately ran to his side and used her own hands to cover his ears too, hoping that it can provide an extra layer of insulation even if she had no idea what good it would do.

"His mufflers! Someone please find his mufflers!"

She made it a point not to scream and shout for it would only increase his pain. She tried her best to control her volume so that it was loud enough to be heard by the class, but not overly so that it would hurt him further.

For some reason, it took the entire class five whole minutes to find the missing muffler. Five whole minutes of pain for Hibiki that had slowed to a crawl as he squirmed and writhed on the floor and no one, not even the teachers, knew what to do.

Even when his muffler was finally found and she quickly put it over his ears, the damage was already done. He is a strong person, but the experience was so painful for him that there were tears leaking out from his eyes and his fingernails dug so deep into the skin near his ears that it was bleeding slightly. She remembered hugging him close to her chest, whispering reassuring words to comfort him as she stroked his back with a hand to calm him down as the entire class watched on silently, not knowing what to do. The teachers wisely herded their classmates out and left them alone until Hibiki had recovered enough for a medic to check on him when he is less distressed.

It is a miracle that Hibiki's quirk didn't explode the surrounding noise around them. She knew that his quirk sometimes made him amplify noise to a very loud volume when it becomes uncontrollable. His ability to manipulate sound waves can turn him into a living sonic weapon if he lacks the proper control.

Hibiki never participated in any soccer sessions after that. Now, he always wore earplugs on top of the mufflers that he always wore for extra measure should his muffler went missing again for whatever reasons. She would also sit out of the soccer sessions to keep him company. She wasn't really a fan of soccer anyway.

By the time they reached Junior High, she realised that it became natural for them to spend all their time together. It is so natural that they didn't even realise just how much time exactly they tend to spend with each other until their families pointed it out during one of their dinners together.

At least their parents are now good friends with each other thanks to their friendship. Her parents are not rich, but they earn enough to support the family. Her family is at least more well-off than an average one. Thankfully, his parents never seemed to mind the background which she came from. They are simply happy that their son made a friend, even if it is just a single one.

They both constantly got nagged by their parents to make more friends, but somehow they didn't manage it even if they did try to heed their advice.

So, they continue to stick by each other.

He would sometimes come and crash in her room after school for no reason. Her bed might as well be his for how often he took his afternoon naps in it. His sister might as well be hers for how often she played with Hoshi when the little girl got too energetic for even Hibiki to keep up. His older brother would just laugh at the side and ruffled all their heads before going back to do his work. His brother is a busy man.

He let her use his ipod whenever she wants and she fell in love with the private collection of music he downloaded. He listens to a wide range and genre of music, but she can tell that he prefers Asian pop music. She lets him help her comb her hair, something that she doesn't even allow her mother to help with because none of her parents are good in it. He is surprisingly a pro in it, because he often helped to comb his sister's hair when he is playing with her.

It is how they spend their typical afternoon if they decide to just relax and do nothing in her bedroom. She will plug the wireless earpieces he had gotten for her into her ears, sitting on the floor and leaning against her bed, idly listening to his enormous collection of music which she sets the playlist to play at random. He will also listen to the same music as she did using his muffler which can also double as headphones. It is specifically made to play audio at a frequency and pitch that will not harm his ears. He would listen to the same music while he lies on her bed on his stomach, comb in hand, and slowly comb through her hair, straightening and removing whatever knots he found in it.

They would remain in this manner in silence, sometimes adding a comment or two if they don't feel like talking much. Sometimes their conversation will be extremely engaging if it is a topic they are both interested in. Sometimes when one of them is feeling moody, the other would just sit by their side silently to provide some needed company.

Their schoolmates in Junior High often teased them for being a couple but he couldn't be bothered to care about the opinions of these people who knows nothing about them. He couldn't be bothered to get to know people that couldn't bring themselves to see the true him. She doesn't like to talk, and the gossip and rumours really isn't something which she cares about, so she also left it as it is.

There were boys who tried to pick on her, thinking that she is an easy target. Some of them even tried to woo her, but she knows that they only see her as another pretty face to further add to their collection of achievements. They simply want to show off to each other the number of girls that they had managed to conquer.

It disgusts her.

But she's not the confrontational type. She doesn't really know how to tell them to back off and leave her alone and they just won't stop coming back for her.

He wanted to step in, but she told him that she needs to learn how to deal with her own problems on her own. She's someone who aspires to be a hero, and she cannot be one if she cannot even solve a problem as minor as this.

He can see her reasoning, so he reluctantly agreed.

That day, it happened.

She was waiting for him in the school compound, underneath the shade of a tree near the school gates. It is a quiet enough spot for her to have a bird's eye view of the area, but not obvious enough for most people to spot her. He was helping their homeroom teacher moving stacks of worksheets since he was the class rep. He would be a little late. She had offered to help, but he assured her that he can do it alone and told her to take it easy and wait for him. He said he wouldn't take long.

She picked up his bag for him along the way and waited at the spot which they would usually use to wait for the other if one of them is being held up.

That day, those boys who were the source of her headaches had somehow spotted her. She wanted to move to another spot, but they surrounded her before she could leave.

"Hey, look who we have here? Waiting for someone, Yui-chan?"

She gave them a glare, but it wasn't effective in the slightest. She didn't even give them permission to call her by her first name. Only her parents and Hibiki are allowed to address her by such.

"Leave me alone."

"Why so hostile, Yui-chan? We just wanna be friends."

The most annoying one slung an arm around her shoulders which she immediately brushed it off. He didn't take it too kindly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He all but practically growled. "Is it that rich kid? Oh, I see. You became his friend just for the money, didn't you?"

She remembers clenching her fist so hard that it turned white. She was sorely tempted to punch his face in like how she had been trained to do so since elementary school. Hibiki and her were at the top of their close combat class that they are still attending to this day. They are already in the most advanced class and are on their way to completing it within the next two months.

But as tempting as the thought of caving their skulls in is, she cannot do so. These boys all came from families with some sort of background, unlike her. She could easily be expelled if she got into a fight because the law will side with them. The sad reality is that the law protects the rich and influential because it is these people that made the laws. It is not a fight she wants to get into. She doesn't want to create trouble for her parents.

So, she endured, hoping that these boys would just go away eventually.

They didn't.

"In the end, you are just a pretty face who is a slut for money." The leader of the group cooed out as he used a hand to lift her chin up, forcing her to look at him in the eyes. "In that case, it's easy! I can give you the money! Just name your price and leave that loser who cannot even walk in a straight line without those ugly mufflers!"

The rest of the boys openly mocked her with their condescending laughter. It is taking all of her self-restraint to not lash out when the ringleader touched her face with his hand. It makes her want to puke in disgust.

But she needs to think about her parents and the consequences of her actions. These boys have parents who have no qualms using their influence to make lives hard for the ordinary citizen.

The ringleader threw a wad of cash that smacked her in her face. She gritted her teeth and endured. She doesn't want to give them the satisfaction of managing to get a rise out of her.

She needs to endure this. For herself, for her parents, and for him. They would leave once they realised that there is no fun in mocking her. She would endure and it would be over. It would be over and when Hibiki arrives, they can go over to his house to unwind. She will spoil Hoshi with the sweets she bought for the cheerful little girl like she always does. He would wordlessly offer his ipod to her and she can enjoy the large collection of songs he has.

The day will end on a happy note.

Unfortunately, she had underestimated their tenacity.

They snatched the small bag she was holding in her hand and dumped the contents all over the ground. It was the newest puzzle she had bought so that they could piece it together at his house later. She shook in silent anger, but still crouched down to pick up the scattered puzzle pieces anyway, hoping that she didn't lose any of it.

A puzzle would never be complete if there is a missing piece.

A foot stepped on her hand just as she reached out to pick up a puzzle piece, and the owner of the foot even grinded his heel for good measure. She bit back the urge to cry out in pain, but it is also taking all her self-control to not just use her quirk and smack them into oblivion. There are many things that can be lethal the moment they are enlarged.

She felt someone pulling at her hair roughly and this time, she can't help but let out a short scream.

"Oi, I am talking to you, slut!"

She fought to hold back her tears, but she knew it was a losing battle she was fighting. She wanted to laugh at herself. How can she ever be a hero if she cannot even handle a few bullies?

She heard someone running towards them and even before she can register who it was, the sound of flesh hitting flesh rang loudly in her ears. Someone's fist had smashed into the face of the guy who was pulling at her hair.

"Get. Off."

It was Hibiki. He saw what had happened and immediately rushed to her aid.

No words were exchanged, just furious shouts as the boys immediately pounced on him, the consequences of brawling in the school threw out of the window the moment the first punch was thrown. Hibiki got the first hit in and broke the nose of one of the boys, sending him sprawling on the ground in pain. Yui broke herself out of her stupor and joined in, making extra sure that her elbow strike left a huge bruise that would not be forgotten anytime soon on another one of the bullies.

Her eyes widened slightly in fear when she saw the ringleader activating his quirk, allowing his fingernails to elongate and harden. It doesn't matter that such usages of quirks are illegal, she knew for a fact that those nails are strong enough to easily cleave solid concrete into two. That bully had bragged about his abilities often enough for that fact to stick in her head.

They are in big trouble now. Even if the law could save them, it wouldn't save them in time. Worst case scenario, the both of them could be fatally wounded by those sickly claws.

She felt a pair of hands cupping her ears protectively from behind, and even if she cannot see him because her back is facing him, she knew it was his hands. Only his hands felt that warm and gentle.

"Scram."

The sudden explosion of noise from the use of his quirk caused a slight tremble of the area around them, almost as if experiencing a mini earthquake. She would have toppled onto the ground like the bullies if it wasn't for him supporting her. Some of them got up, still wobbling on their feet and ready to have another go but paled when they spotted his face which was contorted in anger.

They made the wise choice and beat it.

It was only when they finally got out of sight did he slowly remove his hands from her ears.

He slowly turned her around, a look of concern marred his face.

"You alright?"

She nodded mutely with her eyes glued to the ground, but even she knew that he can see that it was a badly concealed lie. She's definitely not alright. They had known each other for so long that they can easily pick up any abnormalities about the other.

He gently lifted her hand up to inspect it, the hand which the bully had stepped and grinded his heel on. There is already a large bruise forming on it. She tried her best to not wince in pain when his hand came into contact with hers, but she knew he had definitely spotted the small change in her facial expression.

"Come on, you are coming to my house, and then I'm getting you treated."

She didn't dare to look at him in the eyes, and she didn't know why she felt that way.

They quickly picked up the scattered puzzle pieces they can see, and he held her uninjured hand as he led them along the road that they are so familiar with which leads to his house. Throughout the entire time, they didn't speak a word. Her eyes were constantly trained to the floor and her mind was in a daze.

As per usual, his family butlers greeted them upon their arrival but were immediately alarmed when they saw how their clothes are dirtied and in disarray from their earlier scuffle.

"Young master! Wh-"

"Kichiro-san. Would you please bring a first-aid kit to my room? Thanks."

He led her to his room on the second floor of his house without another word. The first-aid box was delivered to his room in a jiffy and the servants left them alone for some much-needed privacy, closing the door behind them.

She let him do whatever he wants to do as he gently lifted up her injured hand and put whatever ointment he wants to apply on it. He wrapped it up in bandages and even tied a pretty little bow, probably an effort on his part to try and cheer her up.

"I'm sorry."

Her head shot up in alarm when she heard that.

"If only I was faster, you wouldn't get hurt. if only-"

"N-No. It's not your fault!" She tried to explain to him that it is no one's fault but hers. She was bad in handling the situation. She could have dealt with it better.

"I-It's my fault! How can I be a hero if I cannot even handle a few school bullies? I'm usele-"

"Don't." He gritted his teeth and her mouth clamped shut the moment he said that. "Ever say that. You are Kodai Yui, the person who will grow into one of the best heroes the world will ever see. Don't demean yourself for those low lives."

The last of her resistance shattered. Her body shook as her tears started to flow and it wasn't long before she started to bawl her eyes out. For what she was crying for, she had no idea. All she knew was that she cried, and cried, and cried into his chest as he gently pulled her close and whispered words that she didn't hear among all her wailing.

When she finally calmed down enough such that her cries were reduced to the occasional sobs, she heard him said it.

"I will make them pay."

Her grip on him tightened slightly, enough for him to know that it is not worth it. He shouldn't get into trouble for her sake.

It felt like he had somehow read her mind when he spoke the next sentence.

"Don't worry too much about it. If they want to play the family card, then two can play at the game. I will show them why no one mess with an Onpa and gets away with it."

She felt his hand slowly lifting her head up to finally let their gaze meet. Unlike the time when she felt an extreme sense of disgust when the ringleader had touched her, Hibiki's touch is different. His is reassuring and she likes it a lot.

She felt his thumb gently wiping away her tears.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright."

She's too mentally tired to even resist when he lifted her up and lay her on his bed, tucking her in. She was out like the light the moment her head touches the pillow.

When she woke up, it was already close to dinner time.

He was nowhere to be seen. She took a clean set of shirt and cargo pants that belongs to him and heads to the shower to clean herself up, not wanting to go home looking in this sorry state and worrying her parents as a result. He wouldn't mind if she borrows a few clothes from him, she did that all the time when she spends time at his place.

When she finally made her way to the first floor after many futile attempts to hide her puffy eyes, she found both their families sitting at the dining table talking in soft whispers while eating their meals.

"Yui-nee!"

Hoshi bounded up to her the moment she was spotted and gave her a tight hug. Yui hugged the girl back in return. Yui herself is an only child, and Hoshi is a girl which she had long since viewed as her own sister.

"I'm fine, Hoshi."

She wasn't fine, but she was as fine as she can be.

Things turned back to normal after that day, but the bullies were never to be seen again. People said that they had all suddenly transferred out of the school for no reason at all. Yui didn't need to be a genius to know that Hibiki is behind it. No matter how much she pried, he was tight-lipped about the entire affair, only muttering that it was too light a punishment.

She baked him his favourite cake as thanks.

She also secretly helped him to get rid of any rabid fangirls that are attracted to him only for his social status, and she took great satisfaction that one silent glare behind his back was all it took for them to scurry away in fear.

Till date, he is still puzzled as to why the noise pollution he dubbed as 'the banshees' screams' suddenly disappeared without indication, but he isn't complaining and accepted his good fortune without question. Yui decided that he didn't need to know that she was behind it.

People still teased them about the fact that they act like a married couple. She found that these remarks didn't really affect her at all. In fact, there's this strange fluttering feeling in her chest whenever people brought it up. It's there for a fleeting moment before it disappears.

She decided to put it aside for now. Dealing with her own emotions had never been something which she is good at.

What she is good at, is to continue to be his friend. His friend that sees him as who he is as a person and not what society views him as.

He claims that his motivation to be a hero are for selfish reasons, but frankly, she knows that her friend would be a way better hero than most Pro Heroes out there who only did this line of work for the fame. Hibiki's heart had always been in the right place. If anyone deserves a shot to be a hero, it would be him.

She will work alongside him to achieve their dreams, to be heroes.

Even if he is not a hero Japan needs, he is a hero which she looks up to.

He is her hero.


	3. Chapter 3- Hado Nejire

**AN: I have an announcement to make. Due to an error on my part, I have to change the oc's name to Hibiki. When I was looking for suitable Japanese name for boys on the net, I came across a name that meant 'Echo', which I feel is a suitable name for the oc. The english translation I found that spelt the Japanese name was Habiki, which is _wrong_. The correct translation should be _Hibiki_. In Japanese, the name Hibiki is the correct name that meant 'Echo', or at least that is what my google searches told me when I did a double check.**

**Sorry for the error. I had already rectified the same error for the first two chapters. Nothing else has changed other than the name and the few grammer mistakes which I rectified on the go. I really should double check my sources the next time I am finding a suitable Japanese name on the net.**

**In any case, hope you enjoy the story.**

* * *

"Just a little longer. Hold still."

"Mm."

It's a Saturday. Yui's parents are travelling to another city at the other end of Japan due to their work, so Yui is temporarily staying with us. She had asked me to help comb her hair since I am good at it, so here I am.

"I want to braid Yui-nee's hair next! Can I? Can I?"

Yui simply passed Hoshi a hair tie as her answer.

"Oh, so the three of you are right here."

My older brother walked in just as Hoshi and I were finishing up doing Yui's hair.

"Nii-chan? Aren't you usually in the office at this time?"

A smile starts to form on my older brother's face, the type of sinister smile that immediately got me wary of whatever he is about to say.

"Your cousin's coming over today!"

**_What_**

I swear my older brother is laughing at me. I swear it upon my limited edition model 1961 Gibson SG electric guitar, the model which is basically an antique in this day and age and only about ten or so copies of it are still around today. It's the glint in my brother's eyes, the way he pushed up his spectacles with a single finger like all anime villains do and how the light reflected against the lenses. It's in the evil '_huehuehue_' he makes that is inaudible to everyone else except for someone with superhuman hearing like me.

He's totally enjoying seeing me **_suffer_**.

"When?"

She is inevitable. I cannot stop the inevitable. All I can do is to run and hide and pray that she doesn't find me.

My older brother, Hideo, checked his watch with the expression of an unhurried CEO. Actually, _he **is** a CEO._

"About… in ten minutes time, give or take?"

And he didn't bother to tell me about this _earlier_?

Ten minutes. Still a long enough head-start to make a run for it.

"Hold it, young man! Where do you think you are going?"

Oh right, I'm not the only one in the house with superhuman hearing. I inherited it from someone else.

I turned my head to face my mother, who had grabbed me by the back of my shirt the moment I turned to flee from the room I was in. Her Bat quirk gives her enhanced hearing too, but unlike hers, mine takes it to the extreme.

"Uh… clean my own room before my dear cousin arrives?"

My mother's eyes narrowed into a smile, but the danger oozing out of it is unreal. If there is such a thing as killing intent, this is it.

"I expect you to be here in your best behaviour and best attire when your cousin arrives, okay?"

I fidgeted.

"Hmm? Hibiki?"

My mother just '_hmm'_ me. There's my warning. I no longer have any form of escape. That '_hmm'_ just cut off any form of escape for me. Damn it!

And so, I hung my head in defeat.

"Yes, Mum."

And so, five minutes later, I am stuck with my family waiting for my cousin to arrive. Yui is sending me sympathetic looks every now and then. My cousin is from my father's side of the family, he has a younger sister. My aunt had married a Pro Hero and then they had my cousin, who is two years older than me. I don't have much of an impression of my uncle because their family stays in another prefecture in the north of Japan while my family lives way down south, but I heard he had died in the line of duty quite some years back when I was quite young.

And speaking of my cousin…

"Biki! Hoshi!"

_Oh God_, here comes the maelstrom of chaos, the howling hurricane of noise and chatter, and everything in between and beyond.

Our cousin flew in with that flashy quirk of hers, knocking me off my feet as she caught me and Hoshi in a suffocating hug. The next thing I know, her cheek is nuzzling against mine and Hoshi's and all I can see is a sea of light blue, the same shade of blue that both Hoshi and I have as our hair colour.

"Air… need… air…"

I hurriedly tapped my cousin's arm to signal to her to **_let me go_**. I can faintly hear my older brother snickering in the background. He totally set this up on purpose. That conniving-

"Eh? Biki? Why's your face all purple? Did you drink too much grape juice? Wait, is grape juice purple? Why-"

"You were _suffocating_ me!" I exclaimed back after I somehow managed to squirm my way out of her grasp and greedily breathed in some much-needed air for my oxygen deprived lungs. For someone with such a harmless cutesy look, her arm strength is nothing to scoff at. I should know, looks can be deceiving. My cousin's airhead and happy-go-lucky personality does not hide the fact that she is a hero-in-training.

And from what I know, she's pretty high up there in the food chain as well. I have no doubts that she could defeat me at my best using only a single pinky if she wanted to. Doesn't matter that I had trained my ass off ever since I wanted to be a hero. Doesn't matter that I had taken all my combat lessons seriously ever since elementary school and it doesn't matter how many tricks I have up my sleeves that I figured out after countless experiments with my quirk. I would still lose spectacularly. She does not need to put in much of an effort to beat me down into the ground like she did all the time whenever we spar.

What's even better?

_She's in U.A._

My cousin is one of the top students in the top hero academy of our country. She is the cream of the crop.

My cousin, Hado Nejire, is **_strong_**.

"I _told_ you to put on your best behaviour!"

A harsh smack from my mother's hand to the back of my head got me to lose my balance and fall onto the floor face down.

My mother is an advocator of tough love as you can see.

"It's fine, auntie! I'm sure Biki is just too excited at finally seeing his onee-chan again! Right? Hey, Biki. Biki? _Helloooo_~ Earth to _Bikiiii_~"

Look, I don't hate my cousin or anything. I don't hate her for asking one trillion and one questions all the time even if she told me many people found that aspect of her annoying. I actually envy her for being able to even constantly think of one trillion and one questions to ask at every waking moment. The ability to ask questions is a mark of intellect, a mark of genius. It is something which I had never managed to attain or master. Her voice always leaves an uncomfortable faint ringing in my sensitive ears from her constant chattering, the type of ringing that leaves you light-headed and tipsy, but I never fault her for it because she is family.

If anything, I love her as much as I love my parents and siblings. I have a lot of respect for her and I am grateful to her for providing me guidance on how to control my quirk because while our quirks are different, they are also very similar in several key aspects.

But

**_But_**

"On a scale of one to ten, you love your onee-chan at the scale of a hundred, right? Biki? Hey, don't put on such a gloomy face all the time!"

_I can really deal without-_

"Biki~ _Smiiileeee_~"

_The goddamn cheek pinching. _

Yes, she's _still_ pulling my cheeks and trying to stretch it into a smile as wide as hers. I absolutely hated that. She has been doing that for as long as I could remember ever since the day I was born. _How_ are her cheek muscles not sore from smiling like a lunatic round the clock?

_Stop pinching my cheeks damn it! I am no longer a child! Never had been one!_

"Biki? Biki~ Don't ignore your onee-chan~"

And I can deal without that _Biki_. I can really deal without that _Biki_, because once she says it Hoshi will-

"Biki-nii~ Are you okay~"

Hoshi will start calling me _Biki-nii_, which sounds a lot like _bikini_ in English, i.e. the two-piece swimsuit. My name is not a _swimsuit_ damn it!

"Biki! Greet your cousin back properly!" Mum said sternly from somewhere behind me. The insanity starts from here.

"Yes, Biki. Be polite." Dad always side with Mum. Standard protocol for him.

"Now, now, don't make your cousin upset, _Biki_." My brother is enjoying himself _waaay_ too much.

Usually, my family address me as Hibiki until whenever _Nejire_ comes along for a visit. This is why I don't like it when Nejire starts calling me by the name _Biki_, because once Nejire started it, then the _whole family_ will start to call me _Biki_. That stupid nickname is _stuck_ with me for **_life_** thanks to Nejire.

"I think Biki just short-circuited."

Even Yui uses that damn nickname whenever Nejire is around. Damn it.

"Short circuit? Oh, Yui-chan! You are here too! You think he will come back online if I-"

Only way to stop my cousin from going on and on is to answer her question.

"Good morning, Nejire-nee."

"It's _onee-chan_, Biki." Nejire waved a disapproving finger in front of my face, like a disappointed mother hen disciplining her misbehaving chicks. "Repeat after me. _O-nee-chan_."

I sighed. There's no getting out of this.

"Onee-chan."

"Now that's a lot better!"

Ignoring the lifeless tone of my voice, Nejire nearly choked the air out of me again when she pulled me into her bosom for a bone crushing hug. At this point, I couldn't give a hoot about pride and dignity anymore as I kicked and screamed futilely to try and escape from Nejire's death grip.

_I'm getting suffocated right here!_

I can still hear my older brother cackling at my plight in the background. That would have to be fixed later. He had definitely set this up to relish in my suffering. I will have my revenge.

My saviour arrived in the form of Hoshi.

"Nejire-nee! I want a hug too!"

Hoshi is like a carbon copy of Nejire with the same blue eyes and long blue hair. The only physical difference is that Nejire's face is a lot rounder, her hair a lot more wavy, and that Hoshi is still a little on the short side for now because she is so much younger. They could still pass off as sisters nevertheless and no one will be any wiser.

I also inherited the blue hair and eyes that I got from my father, but I kept my hair short and it does not tend to curl or end up in a wavy heap unlike my cousin and sister. My older brother got the straight platinum blonde hair from our mother, but he also has the same blue eyes that we all got from our father.

It's like the colour blue runs in the Onpa family. The scary part of our genetics is that it is the _same shade_ of blue for everyone be it in the hair or the eyes. My aunt (_or Nejire's mother in this case_) also has the same blue hair and eyes which Nejire had inherited from.

There are other things that are passed down through our genetics. The obvious one would be quirks.

Almost every member of the Onpa family would have a sound-based quirk. My father's and my aunt's Voice Change that allows them to change their voice into any sound by changing the frequency and timbre of their voice, and to an extent, the amplitude of their voice's sound waves as well. My brother's Lullaby causes those that heard his voice to fall asleep. My Sound Wave is extremely versatile, allowing me to manipulate any and all sound waves around me, not just sounds produced by me. Hoshi's quirk, Persuasion, allows her to hypnotise her victims through voice. She has the ability to convince people to unconsciously do what she tells them to, which is pretty scary if you think about it. Just imagine if she uses her quirk during a show that is televised across the world. She can literally plunge the whole world into chaos simply by speaking a few words. Thankfully, Hoshi is a ball of cuteness and innocence despite how other people view her quirk as "villainous". The whole world will be doomed otherwise.

Considering that our family are involved in the audio industry, the type of quirks that runs in our family is quite fitting.

I remembered the adults saying that Nejire's father had a vibration-based quirk, which might explain the existence of Nejire's Wave Motion quirk. From what I know, it allows her to convert her vitality into spiral shockwaves and its power is something to behold. She even somehow managed to use it to fly. The only drawback is that it eats up a lot of stamina and she becomes sleepy if she overuses it a lot.

The drawback of her quirk is the same as mine. Why that is the case is a mystery to the both of us, but we guess it may be an Onpa thing. I could never figure out how quirks work.

"Karaoke! We should totally go sing karaoke!"

Somehow the three girls had decided what they want to do while I was spacing out. My parents and older brother had left to do their own thing while I wasn't paying attention, probably going to the office to settle some work-related stuff. I would need to set my earmuffs to maximum deafness later on if we are really going to sing karaoke.

Yes, you read that right. _Maximum deafness_. It will be necessary if both Hoshi _and_ Nejire are there. The moment they both got into the mood and starts to do the falsetto, my eardrums will _burst_.

Nejire lifted Hoshi up with her arms as she spun my little sister around and chattered excitedly.

"You grew so much since the last time I saw you! How tall are you now? Do you have a boyfriend already? Have you decided if you want to be a hero? Or how about something else instead? Oh, wait. You wanted Present Mic's autograph, didn't you? I got one for you since he teaches at U.A.!"

At least with Hoshi here, Nejire will be too distracted with her to literally talk my ears off. I can never keep up with the speed of Nejire's thought process.

Yui nudged me with her elbow.

"You would need to change into the best earmuffs you have if you want to survive the karaoke."

I sighed in resignation.

"I know, Yui. I know."

* * *

That

Was

So

_FUN!_

She had seriously forgotten how fun it is to sing to her heart's content with her favourite cuzzies! They are all so good at it! Yui may not be part of their family yet, but she might as well be one! With how close she and her cute little cousin are, she wouldn't be surprised that the two of them got married to each other the moment they turn eighteen!

And talking about her cute little cuzzies…

"Biki~ I want to sing that song! Move it up to the next song on the list!"

Hibiki turned to look at what song she is pointing at the screen. He blanched the moment he saw what song she is referring to.

"_No_. If you sing _this_ song my eardrums are gonna **_explode_**. We've been through this, Nejire-nee. You are **_banned_** from singing _this_ song. Pick another one."

"But I want to sing _that_ song! Just reduce the sound of my voice with your quirk and everything will be alright!" Nejire whined and true to her expectations, her little cousin groaned and wilted. Why is he complaining? It is good training for him to use his quirk to dampen the sound around him like some sort of force field!

Wait, how does it even work? She knows he managed to recently utilise some sort of sound wave redirection with his quirk to set up a field to dampen the sound around him, but _how _does it work? How did he make it work? What does he do to make it work? She needs to grill him for all the details later!

"How about this one instead?"

Nejire's thoughts were brought back to the present as her little cousin picked another song for her and she knew this was the best concession he is going to make on this topic. Hibiki's ears are extremely sensitive thanks to his quirk, which the doctors suspect is a quirk mutation that resulted from the combination of the best parts of his parents' quirks.

Like, seriously! Hibiki's quirk is so cool! It's so powerful! He could probably be one of the Big Three of his year if he ever went to U.A.'s Hero Course, no kidding! Like how she had recently got that title! When her little cousin finally got into U.A. next year she can brag to Togata and Amajiki how cool her little cousin is!

Watch out, people! The Wave Siblings is gonna rock the entire school! She will see to it that her cute little cousin tops his entire cohort, no questions asked! No disputes! He will be the No. 1 Freshmen and then when he finally graduates and get his hero license, they can start up their own hero office together and then they can start kicking ass and taking names!

Come to think about it, maybe Ryukyu would take in her little cuz as an intern if she recommends him to her? Her little cuz is pretty advanced for his age, she doesn't see why Ryukyu wouldn't take him in. For someone who claims that he is not hero material and is going to be a hero only for the fun of it, he sure trains hard. Like _really_ hard. _Togata _level of hard. Harder than when she was his age! Granted, she can still easily defeat him right now but that is because he has zero combat experience and have not yet received real top-grade hero training! That would quickly change when he gets into U.A.!

_When_ he gets into U.A., not _if_. That's how much confidence she has in her cute little cuz and brother.

_Ahh!_ Snap out of your daydream Nejire! Now is your turn to shine and sing! One of her favourite songs is about to start playing soon!

"Let's sing this song next! Please please please pleeeeassseeee!"

Hoshi swayed on her feet as she uses her puppy eyes. It always works on Hibiki because he has such a soft spot for her.

The _whole family_ has a soft spot for Hoshi. It's a wonder she didn't turn out to be a spoiled child.

"Fine, fine. Just don't make my ears bleed when you sing it later."

See? Hibiki has no resistance towards Hoshi!

Togata and Amajiki keeps teasing her for being an overprotective big sister, but can you blame her? _Can you blame her_ when she has such **_adorable_** little siblings? Not that Hideo-nii is not her sibling, but the age gap is way too big! There is nothing in common to talk about unless it's about heroes because Hideo-nii happens to be a retired hero himself! She, Hibiki, and Hoshi are a lot closer to each other because of their age range, and also partly because her Hideo-nii is a boring adult and is always stuck neck deep in work. Her uncle and auntie and Hideo-nii don't really have time for them even if they tried their best. It is the same for her mother, since she is also helping uncle out in the family business thingy.

So, whenever she is available, Nejire will take the fastest train or plane down to visit her little cuzzies to keep them company like the good onee-chan she is! Such times are a lot rarer now that she is a hero-in-training, but it does not make the fun times any less fun!

"Biki-nii~ Don't just sit there and sulk! It's boring! Sing something! You and Yui-nee both have such nice voice! You two should totally sing a duet!"

"I'm _not_ sulking. I need to concentrate and create a field around me that dampens any sound within my vicinity or you two will make my ears bleed. The field is harder to maintain than it sounds. And for the love of God, **_STOP calling me Biki-nii_**! **_I'M NOT SOME STUPID SWIMSUIT!_**"

Nejire giggled. That nickname she gave Hibiki is the _best_ nickname ever, not that she would ever say that to Hibiki's face if she wants her ears intact. And her little brother singing a duet with Yui? That's so cute!

"You are _boooring_. Right, onee-chan?"

Nejire laughed in approval as she ruffled Hoshi's hair, earning a huff of indignation from Hibiki. These are her cute little cuzzies.

Her cute little cuzzies that she had sworn to protect and to be the best onee-chan to them as she can be.

She could still remember the first time she saw Hibiki and Hoshi as new-born babies, even if her memories from that period are just a fuzzy blur now since she was so young. However, she remembered that seeing them as new-born babies made her swell with a sense of protectiveness that she doesn't know she possesses. Her parents, uncle, and auntie had all told her that she is an onee-chan now and that it is the onee-chan's responsibility to protect her younger siblings. Hideo-nii will also do the same, but he cannot be there for his siblings all the time because he is out there working and helping to manage their family business, so it is her duty to help.

She was an only child, so she was excited that she now has siblings. _Siblings!_

Her father was a hero, so she wanted to be one too. She wants to be a hero like him. Just like how he protected her and Mum, she will protect her little siblings! So she will be a hero!

Dad passed away in the line of duty when she was still young, and because of that tragedy it took her a long time to finally convince her mother to let her attend U.A. to chase her dreams and be a hero- _stopping that train of thought right there_.

No need for any negativity in her life. She is a hero-in-training and heroes make people smile. She learnt that from her father, she learnt it from her hero friends. Mirio taught her that too, that to be a hero is to bring smiles to people's faces, no matter how dire the consequences.

That's why no matter how hard things will be, she will always smile.

She remembered that when she was still a child, her heart nearly dropped when she heard Hibiki was admitted into the hospital when his quirk first manifested. It was a rare case of late manifestation, their family almost thought that he was quirkless because of how late it was. Her mother had received a call one day, saying that Hibiki's quirk finally manifested and that _he is in pain_ and _no one knows what to do_ so he was admitted into the hospital.

She remembered feeling so helpless when she heard the news because no matter how wonderful her own quirk is, it doesn't seem like her quirk can help her little cuz and brother right at that moment.

Their families live in opposite ends of Japan. When Nejire and her parents finally got to the hospital where Hibiki was at after taking the first flight available, the entire family was there right outside the observation room. There was a glass pane that allows them to see what's going on inside there. She may be very young back then, but she remembered taking a look inside as a child through the glass pane, seeing all the ugly looking tubes attached to Hibiki's unconscious body.

She had thought that he was going to die, and it really scared her.

Hideo-nii had gently explained that when Hibiki's quirk manifested, it was sudden. It was too sudden for anyone to do anything. He had suddenly collapsed with his hands covering his ears in pain. He was screaming, shaking the entire mansion with it. Glass were shattered, plates and vases cracked. It was through sheer luck that Hideo-nii was there at that time and his Lullaby quirk managed to force Hibiki to sleep before any permanent damage was done, buying enough time for uncle and auntie to send him to the hospital for emergency treatment and to find out what was wrong.

Hoshi happened to be there to witness it too, and from the looks of it she was _traumatised_.

Hoshi was only two at that time.

So despite how scared she was feeling, Nejire decided to be the good onee-chan that she is and do her best to comfort Hoshi who could not stop crying. She tried to reassure little Hoshi that her Hibiki-nii is going to be okay, that everything is going to be alright. She doesn't know if she's reassuring Hoshi or herself .

It pops up in the news from time to time. In this superhuman society, deaths by quirk manifestation is a common occurrence in children, it's just not widely reported in the media. The death rate is usually higher in children that manifested emitter type quirks, children who are either born with a quirk too strong to be controlled or that their body is too weak to contain it. Sometimes it's both. Children with animalistic mutant type quirks are also at a higher risk. Sometimes children's bodies with quirks that made them more aggressive just gave in to their instincts and the results… can sometimes lead to many ugly things.

She remembered praying very hard that Hibiki's case does not fall into any of the above mentioned categories. She just wants him to be okay.

The doctors were still trying to identify what _exactly_ is Hibiki's quirk because it is not like anything they had seen before. It is nothing like what generations of the Onpa family had before. It is too versatile. It seems to be able to serve a diverse range of functions that confused the doctors to no end and the only clue that they could work with was that it was almost certainly something related to sound because of their family's genetics.

It doesn't help that even Hibiki's snores can sometimes destroy the glass of their equipment every now and then. It disrupted every progress made. No one could get near him until his quirk stop activating suddenly without warning. Even in his medicine-induced sleep, Hibiki was still causing damage to everything and everyone around him. Progress was slow.

To a small extent, even Nejire's own quirk is something derived from sound. Her mother's Voice Change changes the amplitude, frequency, and timbre of sound waves, although it is more on the frequency and timbre side and is limited to her own voice. Her father's quirk is Vibration. Combine those two together and her own quirk, Wave Motion, is born. She can freely control the amplitude and the frequency of her shockwaves, an aspect that is partially shared with her mother's quirk.

Her uncle's quirk is the same as her mother's. Auntie's quirk is Bat, which has the added benefit of enhanced hearing and even being able to use echolocation on top of the fancy wings sprouting from her back. So maybe Hibiki's quirk is also a mixture of the two?

Her wild guess turned out to be right.

_Sound Wave_. Her little cuz has the ability to manipulate sound waves. This also means that any and all sounds are under his command.

_How cool is that?!_

He also inherited superhuman hearing from auntie, superhuman hearing that far surpasses even auntie's own. His hearing is so good that he has to constantly wear earmuffs so that he can hear like a normal person and even then, it is not enough. He inherited the Onpa's sound-based powers from uncle. Amplitude, frequency, timbre, and more. _Anything_ that has a relation to sound waves, he can control it. He can even manifest mini circular speakers on the palm of his hands that can produce many different types of sounds based on how he modified the sound of his heartbeat. It's just not a favoured style of usage in which Hibiki uses his quirk, because he said it feels weird growing speakers on the palm of his hand. He usually kept it hidden.

Hibiki said that if one were to refer to the theory of evolution, it should mean that the part of his quirk where he can manifest speakers is theoretically _impossible_. He found that part of his quirk extremely weird, but she thinks otherwise.

_It is so... Cool!_

What's not cool is that Hibiki was forced to stay in the observation room for another three months? Four months? Or was it five months? She could not really remember, but it was a long period of time. It took a long time for Hibiki to get discharged from the hospital from the very first time his quirk manifested. Why?

When she asked, the answer that the adults gave her was that Hibiki had no idea how to control his quirk at all.

During that period, Hibiki was all alone in that lonely little room by himself. Equipment were constantly replaced when his quirk went haywire and he accidentally destroyed them again. Cracked walls have to be cemented again and again when he accidentally sneezed and caused a mini earthquake from the volume alone. A yawn from him could be accidentally amplified to ridiculous volumes that can cause tremors. Sometimes all surrounding sound would just up and disappear, like having yourself stuck in a vacuum. You could clap your hands as hard as you want and _not a single sound_ could be heard.

If there's one thing Nejire learnt from that last incident, it was that prolonged silence can drive anyone crazy. It is dangerous in an unexpected and subtle way. There's no one she knew that can get used to not hearing any sound at all.

She remembered that when she was still a child, the adults all said that Hibiki was dangerous to everyone around him if left uncontrolled. Now that she is in a hero-in-training and had more exposure with the dangers of quirks, she reluctantly agrees with that statement. Such an uncontrollable power in the hands of a child is a recipe for disaster. There were many records of such tragedies in the era when quirks first manifested and no one had any idea what to do.

Hibiki handled the isolation surprisingly well during his adjustment period. Nejire was surprised. She would have expected him to throw a tantrum from being stuck in a boring room for so long, being observed like a goldfish in a tank for months on end. She herself would definitely throw a big tantrum from all the boredom in there.

When Hibiki finally got a grasp on his quirk after fumbling with it for months, the doctors gave him the green light and he was set free at long last. The only change was the earmuffs that never left his ears unless he was sleeping. Even in sleep, he wears earplugs, because according to Hibiki earplugs are more comfortable to sleep with than earmuffs. His bedroom had to be soundproofed so that he does not wake up to every little noise in the dead of the night that only he can hear. Everyone took extra care to speak softer around him because even the best sound-cancelling earmuffs and earplugs that their family made weren't doing much to help Hibiki.

Everyone was tiptoeing around Hibiki like he was a bomb waiting to explode. Nejire felt helpless about it even when she is supposed to be the onee-chan.

She remembered that she had a lot of questions she had to restrain herself from asking about Hibiki's quirk because Hibiki could not endure too much noise. He was always in his own soundproofed corner which always seems so lonely in Nejire's opinion, so she always tried her best to find something quiet to play with him to cheer him up. He smiled, so she thinks that it worked.

Hideo-nii immediately ordered a R&D team in their family's company to search for a way to come up with a product even more noise-cancelling than their best noise-cancelling ones. That is saying something because the earmuffs Hibiki was using back then was the best one that their family had, which translates to the best one that the industry had back then.

Just how sensitive to noise are Hibiki's ears?

Anyway, the R&D department managed it, the ultimate noise-cancelling earmuffs that can even double as wireless headphones so that Hibiki can answer phone calls and listen to his favourite music like any normal person. It is a piece of equipment made solely for him. The R&D department really outdid themselves.

That brand of earmuffs somehow was a huge hit too when their family decided to try and market and sell the product to the public as the best noise cancelling headphones in Japan, but that is a talk for another day.

Before she knew it, their karaoke session came to an end. She hasn't had her fill yet! She wants to sing more! _More!_

Hibiki rolled his eyes at her statement when he dragged her out of the KTV kicking and screaming.

"Biki~ I want to continue singing!"

"Our time here is up, and we have to be back in time for dinner. Seriously, you are supposed to be the older one here."

"B-But… Biki~"

"If you want something fun to do, you can help fine tune my quirk after dinner. There are a few ideas that I am itching to try out."

Nejire's eyes lit up immediately. Maybe Hibiki had found more creative applications of his quirk? His ideas are always weird but innovative in the fun sort of way!

"Really? Did you finally invent some super move? Am I the first to see it? What is it about? Can you drop a hint?"

"Not yet, that's why I am asking for your help. You may act like a kindergartner, but I know you are strong and knowledgeable."

"If anyone can do this, it is nii-chan! You can do it, nii-chan!"

Nejire cannot help but squeal in her mind when Hoshi clenches her fists excitedly and look up to Hibiki with stars in her eyes. Hoshi is just too _cute_!

"We also need to name all your moves! It's never too early to start thinking of names!"

"I have a move that I should maybe name it as 'Repulsor'? Ever watch Iron Man? The old movie-"

"I have no idea why you are so into those retro movies, Biki. They are like, two hundred or so years old!"

"Hey, the Avengers movies are timeless classics!"

"Nyeh~"

Nejire made a face and stuck her tongue out at her cousin. Seriously, what's with Hibiki and his obsession with those retro- no, _outdated_ movies?

"I think they portray the ideals of heroes pretty well. There's also this anime about heroes call Fate-"

"La la la la la~ I'm not listening to any of these oldies that nii-chan watches~"

Hoshi seems to share her sentiments as she covered her ears and drown Hibiki's words with her voice.

"Tch. You two can't even appreciate a good movie or anime when you see one."

"At least get something that's _recent_!"

"I agree." Yui suddenly spoke from the side.

Hibiki sported a look of horror on his face at Yui's words.

"Yui! You are supposed to be on _my_ side!"

* * *

**AN: Hope this chapter does not disappoint. I had half a mind to write SoH as a short story that last for maybe… five chapters or so, but I decided to try and make this a more detailed and longer story and hopefully it has the same response that TAOFT and WOTI did.**

**Sometimes I really hate my brain for putting me in difficult situations and into commitments that I shouldn't be committing into. I really hope that I won't regret this.**

**I changed things and made Nejire as Hibiki's cousin because the moment I saw her quirk, I was like, wow, there is so much similarity in her quirk and the one Hibiki has. Because, _Waves_. Besides, having her around will open more doors for Hibiki and is a great way for him to be more involved with canonical events, like the current arc the anime is currently showing.**

**Lemillion, damn. The feels is strong in that one.**

**People also seem to be shipping Hibiki and Jiro? I have to say that was unplanned, since I had no idea of Jiro's existence when I first started writing this fic because I had only a very rudimentary understanding of BnHA back then, and she wasn't a popular character in those that I had read. I can try to write a love triangle if you guys want to see it so badly and if the response is really that good, because I understand. What is high school without some love story drama? However, this will strictly be a Yui x OC fic, so don't expect the story to head in any other direction even if I do stick in a love triangle somewhere.**

**On a more important note, I am still a little undecided if I should put Hibiki and Yui in the same class when they enroll into U.A., or whether I should split them up into two different classes. Maybe I should just put them both in Class B? I mean, I don't think I had seen a fic that does a detailed story about Class B itself, and the only thing that Hibiki will be missing out if he ever got into Class B is the USJ arc, which isn't much in the long run. Also, I am still undecided which canon character from either class Hibiki will be replacing, especially from Class 1-A, because most of them seem irreplaceable to me. **

**Decisions, decisions…**

**In any case, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Also, if you have any suggestions, feel free to voice them out in the reviews section.**


	4. Chapter 4- Villainous Quirks and Friends

_"Don't talk to me, you...you villain!"_

It's the same wherever she goes.

_"Onpa, please don't use your quirk in class."_

_"I didn't!"_

_"It's not good to lie, Onpa."_

_"I didn't use my quirk in class! Why wouldn't anyone believe me?!"_

Even her teacher wrongly accused her because she's _afraid_ of her. Nobody believes her anyway. Nobody except for her family.

_"Hey, why is she always alone?"_

_"Shhh! Leave her be! She might make you her slave if you ever let her talk to you!"_

Despite what people might think, that a girl like her who comes from a rich family will have it easy in life, the truth is that it is **not**. Not when she is slapped with the label of possessing a "villainous" quirk.

Sometimes, she wonders if it is the quirk that creates the villains or whether it is society themselves who created the villains that they fear the most. It doesn't matter where she goes. Everyone's the same. The moment they found out what her quirk is, they all scattered faster than she can blink.

Persuasion. The ability to convince people to unconsciously do what you tell them to. The doctors described it as the perfect hypnotism that is performed through her voice. No clues, no traces, no symptoms. Her victim won't even know what hit them until all is said and done and she had squeezed them dry of their usefulness. That's her quirk.

There are limits to her quirk. How successful she can convince her victim to do her bidding depends on the nature of the task she is convincing them to do. Getting them to give her their entire life savings is definitely way harder than getting them to lend her a pencil. The effects of her quirk also sets in gradually, so seeing the effects might take time. The harder the task, the more she has to continuously speak to her victims to ultimately convince them to do what she wants them to do. There's also the issue of her victim's own mental fortitude. The stronger their will, the harder it is for her to convince them.

She has no idea how her quirk was even created in the first place. Her entire family has sound-based quirks. The only 'sound' part of her quirk is that she needs to use her voice to use it. Her quirk is more of hypnotising her victims into doing what she wants them to do than utilising sound itself.

She kicked another pebble she found alongside the road, venting her frustrations as she watched it skipped a few metres ahead of her. She should have known. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up when she transferred to a new school. Everywhere is the same.

No one other than her family will accept her for who she is.

Her family had always lived in Shimane prefecture. However, there was a huge battle between heroes and a group of villains in the area where her family lived about two months back. Her family's ancestral home had been utterly demolished in that vicious fight. The entire section of the city where her home was located was levelled. Her family's not the only one. Many others had their homes destroyed too.

There were casualties, people who were unlucky enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily, there were no one that she knew who ended up dead from all the collateral damage.

Her family decided to move their home to a new location. They eventually decided on Musutafu. Her brother will be attending high school next year. Not only is her brother applying for his dream school which is located in this city, her parents had also been deliberating for a long time beforehand to relocate the headquarters of their multibillion family business. Musutafu was one of their top choices.

Yui and her family are also moving here to Musutafu. Like her family, Yui's home had also been destroyed when the villain had went on a mindless rampage. One of the villains had a gigantification quirk that comes with regeneration, allowing him to heal all his injuries quickly. It was why it took the heroes so long to put him down.

Moving to a new city also means switching schools. Her brother and Yui would definitely have no problems fitting in. Her brother is adept at social interactions even if he doesn't necessarily like it. Yui's quiet nature allows her to easily erase her presence. They both have good grades and impressive quirks. There's no reason why they wouldn't be popular if they ever want to do so.

She, on the other hand, will never be accepted by society simply because she is born with a "villainous" quirk. Her first week in her new school already told her that much. Even with her family's support, sometimes, there is only so much she can take.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice that there was somebody else when she made a turn round the corner. By the time she had realised it, she had already knocked into said person.

Just her day.

"S-Sorry! Are you alright?"

A dry voice answered her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?"

A boy with messy indigo hair and very dark eyebags (_did he even have enough sleep?_) replied as he got back up to his feet before offering her a hand. She grabbed it, and the boy helped her up on her feet.

"You are bleeding."

The boy pointed to her left elbow and Hoshi's eyes followed where his finger is pointing at.

"It's just a scrape. I will be fine."

"It might get infected if left untreated. At least put on a band aid." The boy insisted before pointing to a convenience store right across the street. "It would only take a minute or two to get one from the convenience store."

"It's fine. It's my fault anyway for not paying attention to where I was going."

"The fault lies with me too." The boy argued back. "Come on, it won't take long to buy a band aid."

After a few more futile attempts to convince the boy that 1) she doesn't need a band aid and 2) that the wound isn't too big, it will clot and close on its own eventually, she found herself still following him to the convenience store. He even helped clean her wound and put on the band aid where she had hurt herself.

"Sorry about this."

"And I told you many times already, it's fine." Hoshi said with a smile before giving the person in front of her another thorough look. Why does his school uniform look so familiar?

Oh, right. It's the new middle school her brother is now schooling at. Yui had also transferred there too from what she knew.

"You are from Nabu Middle School?"

The boy blinked twice.

"Yes, I am."

"Same school as my brother then." She gave him a small smile as they both made to leave the convenience store. She is in the last year of elementary school, and she is considering applying to the same middle school that her brother is now schooling at upon graduation.

"Really? That's a coincidence." The boy gave his own crooked smile in return. They were just about to take their leave when something went wrong with her day once more.

"Robbery! Everyone don't move! Nobody call the cops or heroes!"

A masked figure barged into the store with a gun, holding it up close to the cashier in a threatening manner. He threw the frightened cashier a large empty bag, instructing him to empty all the cash in the cash register into the bag.

"I SAID DON'T CALL THE COPS OR HEROES!"

The robber roared out, the barrel of the gun pressed violently onto the forehead of the cashier when he spotted one of the customers attempting to do just that. The frightened customer immediately dropped his phone.

Hoshi bit her lower lip in nervousness as she hid herself behind a shelf. The boy had instinctively used his own body to shield her and pulled her aside to hide the moment the robber made his entrance. The both of them cautiously peeked their heads through, trying to see what is going on.

Objectively speaking, her quirk is well-suited to resolve this situation. However, she is already shaking in her boots from the mere thought of talking face-to-face with a gun-toting robber.

But a tragedy might happen if nothing is done soon.

"You should put down that gun."

She found herself speaking even before she could go through her options. Her body had just moved on its own. There's no going back now. The only thing that she can rely on now are her quirk and her wits.

She slowly walked past the boy that is with her, ignoring his look of '_what-are-you-doing_' and the silent hiss for her to get back behind him. She held her hands up slowly in front of her in a placating manner.

"The gun's dangerous, you should put it down."

"Get back, girly."

She suppressed her smirk when she spotted the slight glaze in his eyes that only she can recognise. Her quirk is starting to take effect. All she needs to do is to continue to talk to the robber to persuade him to put the gun down. He doesn't seem to be particularly strong-willed. Her quirk should work perfectly.

"Do you know that more than 160,000 people accidentally killed themselves with a gun per year?" She looked at him with the innocent puppy eyes she had perfected to use against her two doting older brothers, a weapon that is more powerful than her quirk itself. "So you should put that gun down. Besides, that model looks outdated. ASP?"

Who knew reading random trashy articles on the internet regarding gun models will prove to be useful?

"H-How you know?"

The robber is starting to exhibit the signs of getting influenced by her quirk. His attention is now not on the robbery, but rather on her and the topic she is talking about. The look in his eyes are now more unfocused, the glaze in it getting more obvious.

"I read a lot." She offered him a smile, slowly walking up to him with her hands still raised up in front of her. "Trust me, that model is unreliable. Among pistols, that model had the highest number of people accidentally hurting themselves by using it. You should really put that gun down."

Whatever she just spewed was a lie, but the robber don't need to know about that.

"Y-Yeah. You are right, I guess." The robber stammered, his words a little incoherent as he slowly begin to lower his gun. The effects of her quirk is slowly beginning to show itself.

"Put down your gun, okay?"

That was the final nail in the coffin and to everyone else's disbelief, the robber simply put the gun down on the cashier table.

"It is getting a little stuffy here, isn't it? Why don't we take a walk outside?"

With a confident turn on her heels, Hoshi spun around and walked out of the door. Despite the danger of the situation she is currently in, she nearly lost her composure and laughed out loud when the robber followed after her like a lost little puppy.

To maintain her hold over the masked robber, she kept up the conversation with him the entire journey that lasted a short five minutes at the most, but felt like an eternity to her. She spotted the boy with indigo hair trailing after them a short distance away, worry and concern clear in his eyes.

That's sweet of him. She never had someone doing something like that for her before that is not her family.

She soon brought the robber to the police station.

"You have problems finding a job, right?" She continues the conversation using information she had just gleaned from the robber. She pointed at the police station. "I know people in there who can help you. Won't you go in there?"

"Yes, I should."

The robber simply agreed to whatever she said at this point, the power of her quirk already gaining almost complete control of his mind. The boy had obviously caught up to her plan shortly before she reached here when she saw him running ahead to get the cops. He must have quickly briefed them on the abnormality of the issue as the cops had walked up to the robber with a friendly smile on their faces instead of rushing to put the handcuffs on him. She's glad that they opted to do that. It would be dangerous if their sudden hostile reactions somehow jolted the robber out of the hold her quirk has on him.

Her knees gave up on her when she saw the robber finally being taken into custody and the cuffs placed on his wrists. She sat on the floor, her breathing laboured. It was only now that she found that she her forehead had accumulated cold sweat from the entire fiasco.

If this is what heroes do on a daily basis, then the job is definitely not for her. Something like this happening just once is enough excitement to last her for a lifetime.

"You are alright now. Breathe."

She looked up and saw the boy with indigo hair rubbing soothing circles on her back with his hand. They remained that way for a few more minutes before she recovered enough to stand up again.

"Your quirk had a brainwashing effect on him, right?"

She instinctively jerked a little, her head looking away. Everytime people found out about her quirk, they start to look at her differently.

"Don't worry. I don't think it's a bad quirk. I have a similar quirk too. It was how I managed to easily recognise the symptoms."

She whipped her head around, looking at him in surprise. She can feel her jaws hanging from disbelief.

"My quirk is Brainwashing." The boy continued to explain as they both rested and sit on a bench in the corner of the police station. "I can control the minds of anyone who replied to me."

"That's… very similar to mine." Hoshi blurted out. "My quirk is Persuasion. I don't need people to respond to me, but I do need to constantly talk to them so that I can gradually persuade them to do what I want them to do. It's not fool-proof, but it is handy when my victim has no idea of what my quirk is."

"Judging from your initial reaction, people must have called your quirk a villainous one, eh? It's the same for me." The boy said as he got her a cup of water from a water dispenser nearby. She took it with gratitude, her throat is getting dry from all the talking earlier. "I was deciding if I should step in and use my quirk on the robber, but he seemed very high-strung and the gun was pointing too close to the cashier. I wasn't sure if I should risk the robber accidentally pulling the trigger if I suddenly talk to him."

"I… I didn't think through it all that much." Hoshi admitted in embarrassment. He's right. Suddenly talking to a highly paranoid robber whose gun is pointing at the cashier mere inches away from his head suddenly seemed like a stupid idea. One wrong move and the cashier might have died because she startled the robber into pulling the trigger.

"Everything turned out well in the end." The boy reassured her before offering her a hand with a somewhat evil looking grin.

"Shinso Hitoshi. It's nice to meet you, _kouhai_."

"_Kouhai_?" She repeated, the edge of her lip twitching a little in annoyance. She still accepted the hand anyway.

"You are obviously still in elementary school." He gestured at the school uniform she is wearing. He took a pause before purposely stressing another word. "_Kouhai_."

"Onpa Hoshi. Nice to meet you too, _senpai_."

"Are you thinking of becoming a hero? What you did back there looked like you could be one."

"Nah. The hero's life is not for me. I don't want to go through something like that ever again." Hoshi shuddered in thought. "I just happened to hear a lot of stories from my brother who is a retired hero. Some of the situations he told me that he had gotten himself into was a lot like this one. I just did what he did."

"I thought you said your brother was attending middle school?"

"That is my other brother. I have another one. I'm the youngest out of the three of us."

"I see."

By the end of the day, the police had taken their testimonies and reassured her that she won't be charged for illegal quirk usage because it was in self-defence. She even exchanged numbers with Shinso so that they can bond over the same pain and frustration from possessing similar "villainous" quirks over text messages.

Maybe she can make some friends in Musutafu after all.

* * *

"You are Shinso Hitoshi?"

Shinso looked up from his bento box, only to see a fellow schoolmate looking at him. How he approached his table without making a single sound is beyond his understanding.

"Are you Hoshi's brother?" Shinso asked immediately the moment he saw the person talking to him possessing the same shade of light blue hair as Hoshi. She did say that her brother is attending the same school as him. Their text messages over the phone also told him enough for him to know that her brother is of the same age as him too.

"Yup. Name's Onpa Hibiki, by the way, although Hoshi might have told you that already. I'm from the class next door." Hibiki offered a hand, which Shinso took and shook it. "Thanks for looking after Hoshi that day."

"I didn't do much." Shinso admitted.

"I say you did plenty simply by being her friend." Hibiki insisted with a smile. "She doesn't have many friends, and they tend to distance themselves from her after some time. I think you know why."

"They are stupid."

"I agree. I heard from Hoshi that you are applying for U.A. too?"

Too?

"You…"

"Yep. Applying to U.A.'s hero course is what I am planning to do. Who knows? Maybe we can even be classmates?"

"That would be nice." Shinso said sincerely. It's not everyday he gets to meet people who are not afraid of him because of his quirk. It's obvious to Shinso that Hibiki clearly could care less about the fact that his quirk brainwash people to do his bidding.

After all, Hibiki's own younger sister possess a similar quirk to his.

"Then let's work hard together, yeah? I've got a feeling that we might just be great friends!" Hibiki said jovially with a laugh. "Alright, got to go. Yui's waiting for me. See you around, Shinso-san!"

Shinso continue to eat his meal after the older Onpa had left. Somehow, the meal tasted nicer and his mood is a lot better.

_Friends_.

Maybe the word 'friends' may no longer be a foreign concept to him anymore.

* * *

**AN: I really like Shinso as a character. The first thing that came to my mind when I first read about his quirk, I was like, wow, think of all the combos he can do with Hibiki when they combine powers. They can literally mind control the entire school together if Shinso grows powerful enough to handle the strain to use his quirk on such a large scale. Imagine it, Shinso's voice + amplification of Shinso's voice using Hibiki's quirk = world domination**

**Hence, why he was added into this story.**

**Friendly reminder that if you have any suggestions as to which class you want both Yui and Hibiki to be in (be it together or in separate classes), just throw it out in the review section. I'm undecided on this because to me, it really doesn't make much of a difference other than the approach I'm going to take on this story. If Hibiki is in Class B, then I am definitely putting more focus on the romance part. If he is in Class A, then a portion of the focus will likely fall on how his presence influence his classmates for the better or for the worse, and Hibiki won't know because he has so little knowledge of canon in the first place. If I separate Yui and Hibiki into two different classes, the class rivalry will be fun to write about too.**

**In any case, hope you enjoy the story thus far.**


	5. Chapter 5- Entrance Examinations

It is more than just _hard_.

I should have expected it since this is the top hero academy in Japan. The written portion of the exam alone would have eliminated a lot of the applicants. I'm sure that I had done well enough, but the difficulty of the written exam is still a big surprise.

"How's your test?" I asked Yui as I stretched my neck. We were just released from the classroom where we were sitting for the past three hours doing the paper. My neck had unknowingly gotten stiff while I was doing the paper.

"Fine, I guess. I think my written exam alone is good enough to let me pass."

No surprise there. Yui is very smart.

"Don't worry too much about the practical." I assured her the moment my eyes caught her subtle fidgeting, a sign of her nervousness. "You will do fine."

"I hope so."

The two of us walked along the long corridor that will bring us to a large auditorium that the applicants were all told to gather at right after our written exam. There's no break for us in between. Maybe they are testing us on our endurance? We need to be able to handle at least this much if we want to be heroes.

Shinso and I became fast friends ever since we first met in middle school, almost right after I transferred there. We got along extremely well in a short amount of time because, well, both of us don't have many friends to begin with. Birds of the same feather flock together and all that. Him befriending me means him befriending Yui as well, so the three of us became a clique during our short time together in middle school.

Shinso had gotten himself a hero recommendation, so he is sitting an entirely different test that only the recommended students will undertake. Nejire often shared with me and Yui about what the hero course in U.A. is about, and I know for a fact that U.A. has a certain inclination for using robots to test their students. For other hero academies, they often use their third years to test the freshmen applicants.

But for U.A., the best and therefore the hero academy with the most budget to spare?

They use _robots _to not only test their current students, but _also _the freshmen applicants. At least that was what happened when Nejire took her entrance examinations. Shinso's quirk, while uniquely powerful, is useless in this setting.

After hearing what Nejire had to say to us when she gave us her advice, Yui, Shinso, and I did further research online and we soon found out that while U.A. changes the format for the practical portion of their entrance examinations every year, the one thing that never changed is the fact that they used robots for their normal entrance examinations. The three of us formulated our own respective strategies from there. Shinso decided to try his luck in the Recommendation Entrance Examinations instead because of this newly acquired information. Yui and I decided to attempt the normal exams.

With encouragement from both Yui and I, Shinso got his bearings together and tried his luck in attempting to get a hero's recommendation since he really wants to get into U.A.'s hero course so very badly. My family has connections with some of the current Top Ten heroes. Some of them even willingly support my family in our annual charity drives, which is also one of the largest in the country. Ever since my family had made it big in the audio industry, my ancestors are firm believers in giving back to society and this belief was passed down from generation to generation. The charity drive had been there for generations. It is our family's tradition by this point. Now, it is up to me and my siblings to uphold it and pass it on to our future children.

With my family's connections, Shinso had managed to score himself a face-to-face meeting with one of the current Top Ten heroes in our country on his own merit. I wasn't privy to how the relationship was initially established, but this hero had personal connections to our family that stemmed from way before he became a Top Ten hero. Our family and him have similar ideals about giving back to society, so we had worked with each other for more than a decade now.

Our relations with this hero is so good that for as long as I could remember, every Christmas, this hero will gift my family luxurious clothes from his own fashion chain. Each of the clothes are specifically tailored made to each of our measurements and personally designed by this hero himself, complete with a handwritten greeting card that ends off with his own signature. Hoshi looks forward to his presents every year with anticipation and that hero never disappoints her with his over-the-top Christmas presents.

Shinso's potential, his drive, and his belief about what a hero should be had impressed _Best Jeanist_. _(I personally am still reeling in shock about it, not that I would ever tell Shinso my true feelings or he will brainwash me to make me do embarrassing things in revenge.)_ The No. 4 Pro Hero had personally sent in his recommendation for Shinso to be accepted into U.A.

I could have tried and gotten a hero's recommendation as well, but even if I managed it, Yui wouldn't. Her quirk is unique, but in this society where people's idea of heroes is so poisonously skewed that they expect heroes to have flashy and 'strong' quirks, and where most heroes behave more like celebrities than real heroes, it is extremely hard for her to get any recommendations. Yui can handle her own in combat situations, but her quirk is not combat-oriented nor is it flashy. It also certainly does not help that Yui is not good at speaking up.

The best way for Yui to get into U.A. will be through the normal entrance exams that almost everyone else will be taking. I don't want to leave Yui to take the entrance exams alone, so I decided to take it with her and forgo the recommendation route. I have confidence that I can get into U.A.'s hero course no matter which route I took anyway.

Come to think about it, which part of canon am I in? Am I in the same year as the protagonist? I don't think I read far enough into the series in my previous life to remember anything that would give me more clues as to which time period-

My train of thought was broken when someone bumped into me the moment Yui and I made a turn around the corner. I should have paid more attention. I could have heard it coming with my super hearing if I wasn't so lost in my own thoughts.

"Ah, s-sorry!"

"It's fine-"

I stopped short when I saw just who it was that had bumped into me.

Green curly hair? Check.

Green eyes? Check.

Freckles? Check.

Scrawny look? Check.

Constant fidgeting? Check.

I just bumped into the protagonist of the show, didn't I? The guy who inherited All Might's quirk if my jumbled memory serves me right? What was his name again?

"I-I'm so sorry! I just didn't want to be l-late for the briefing for the practical exam a-and-"

"It's fine." I reassured the guy in front of us and waved it off before Yui and I made our leave. "Well, best of luck to you."

The boy in front of me beamed. Wait, is he _tearing up_? Did my words just made him _cry?_

I don't remember much of the series so I don't know if this is normal for the guy in green. What a weirdo.

"You were staring at him for a while."

I blinked my eyes at Yui's words before secretly pointing at the pillar of walking green.

"Have you ever seen someone with so much _green_ that it is illegal? He's a walking bamboo."

"You are blue from top to toe and you don't see me complaining."

"Touché." I replied with a wry grin as we both continue our way on our walk to the auditorium.

Well, the bamboo's appearance just answered my burning question.

Still, to think that I am in the same school year as the protagonist. Talk about coincidences. How many canon characters do I even remember anyway? There's the curly green hair one that we met earlier. Who else are there? There is the vulgar explosion boy (_definitely avoiding him for the sake of my ears_), the rigid robot with spectacles, the girl that can manipulate gravity…

Who else am I missing out?

"Hibiki?"

"Sorry, spaced out a little." I said sheepishly as I quickly caught up to Yui.

The U.A. campus is big and it is especially crowded today. Everyone who wants to be a hero in training in Japan's best hero academy are all gathered here. This examination filters the diamonds from the common coals. Only the truly good applicants will be accepted into U.A., because the weak ones will not survive U.A.'s rigorous curriculum.

This is it. Today is the big day that I had been envisioning for the past decade ever since my quirk manifested.

The start of my hero journey begins here.

I will not fail.

* * *

_"Hey, see the name on that locker? Onpa. **The** Onpa."_

_"Oh, a rich kid trying to play hero?"_

_"Probably has too much money to throw around. Hey, you think he bought his way in here?"_

After I changed into an attire fit for combat, I closed the locker which I stored my belongings and headed out of the changing room with my head held high. There are fellow applicants who started talking behind my back the moment they saw my name pasted on the locker temporarily assigned to me for today. Some of them even did it in a loud and obnoxious manner.

These no name characters can talk all they want. In the end, what matters most are the results. Talking wouldn't get you anywhere unless you are Shinso. Reality is cruel. I learnt enough from my cousin that U.A. only accepts the best of the best. You only earned the right to talk shit if you have the strength to back it up.

My reason for becoming a hero may be very 'unheroic', but I'm determined to get into the hero course one way or the other. No one can deny me of my determination. My quirk is dastardly hard to control despite the supposed versatility and powers that comes with it, but I pulled through anyway. I had worked very hard for years to get to where I am now. My family and friends had given me their fullest support and I am not going to disappoint them now that the big moment had finally arrived.

There are eight different test locations in this "Mock City Maneuvers" as the examiners call it. They are numbered alphabetically from A to G. Yui and I are being separated into different locations. I am in Location B while she is in Location A.

This should be a breeze for Yui. Like what Nejire had warned us, what we were told to do is to defeat robots that examiners refer to as the "faux villains". All Yui has to do is to shrink the robots with her quirk to the point that they become harmless. She is more than capable of doing just that.

What surprised me is the fact that U.A. actually has mock _cities_. I had heard it from Nejire before but _seeing _it with my own eyes is another thing entirely. The thought of a school owning numerous mock cities is absurd.

_Just how rich is this school?_

**"Begin!"**

The voice of Present Mic, one of the invigilators of the practical exams jolted me out of my thoughts. What? The test started just like that? From the looks of the people around me, it seems that everyone else was also taken by surprise by Present Mic's sudden announcement.

There's my chance.

I was one of the first few to snap back to my senses. By channeling a compressed blast of sound energy from the speakers on my palms downwards towards the ground, I managed to propel myself into the air.

Sound, in physics terminology, is a vibration that propagates as an audible wave of pressure through a transmission medium. The medium does not need to be gas. It can be liquid or even solid. Metal, for example, is a very good medium for sound to travel through. Sound also travels faster in water than in air.

What I am playing at here is by manipulating the resulting air pressure I indirectly created by blasting varying volumes of sounds from the speakers on my palms. Using my control over soundwaves, when I concentrate all the pressure from the sound energy in a single spot and release them outwards from the speakers on my palms, I can use the resulting blast as a sonic bullet or as a pushing force to propel me into the air, giving me a certain degree of flight capability.

My initial inspiration for using my quirk in this manner was due to my memories of one of my favourite movies in my past life, Iron Man. Since we both have something circular in the centre of the palm of our hands that can spit things out, I spent a lot of time devising a way to fly like him by trying to understand the workings of my quirk as thoroughly as I could. Nejire was a huge help since she can do something similar with her own quirk.

With Nejire's help, I can now fly like Iron Man does, although not as smooth as he made it to be in the movies. I can also use my quirk to imitate the effect of Iron Man's Repulsor blast using the speakers on my palms, but I name this technique as Sonic Bullet instead since Hoshi was insistent that I name it as such.

Sound has to come from somewhere and I need a steady and constant source of sound to maintain my flight. My main source of sound that I modified and transmitted to the speakers on my palms is the sound of my heartbeat, which can be a little hard to control due to its irregularity once you are high on adrenaline. Sustained flight is still a problem for me, but if all I want is a temporary boost?

That's not a problem.

With a sound powered boost, I leapt over the crowd and ran on ahead. My action jolted some of them back to the reality of the situation with how I can hear a mass of footsteps following me from behind.

With my quirk providing further aid to my super hearing, I already knew the generic direction where most of the faux villains are. The sound of whirring of machines in the distance is as obvious as sunlight to my eyes. I'm taking all of them for myself.

The other contestants were laughing at me earlier, weren't they?

Let's see who has the last laugh.

* * *

That's twenty-five points already.

I took a step forward and jumped off with my sound-powered boost, palms facing the ground and creating a loud boom in the process. I managed to jump onto the top of a building in one go. From here, I have a good vantage point to observe my surroundings.

True to what my ears had picked out, I see five three pointers several hundred meters ahead. Nobody had spotted them yet since they are still cluttered in the plaza. A bottleneck is already starting to form there and I have no interest in joining the competition when there is easier prey for me to hunt elsewhere.

Good.

I raised one of my palms in the direction of the three pointers.

_Focus on the sound of my heartbeat._

_Transmit it to the speaker on my palm._

_Modify the sound with my quirk. Up the amplitude of the soundwave of my heartbeat to increase the loudness, and thereby increasing the produced energy._

_Coalesce the sound energy into a single point, then release it in one concentrated shot._

_Sonic Bullet, 30% output_

_Fire_

In the next heartbeat, the invisible sonic bullet was fired like a pressurised air cannon and destroyed the group of three pointers from the sheer force alone. I cannot help but let out a smug grin. That Sonic Bullet combo looks simple in theory, but it is in actuality a four step process that happens in the short span of a split second. It took me years to get everything right without blowing my arm apart in the process even with help from my brother and my cousin. It took me a longer time trying to do the entire combo as easily as breathing.

I had to put in a lot of effort to make Sonic Bullet work. If I want to be a hero, then any less will not suffice. A hero should not settle for anything less than the very best.

That's forty points now.

I continue to hop across the rooftops. I may not have been able to achieve any form of sustained flight yet unlike my cousin, but doing long distance jumps is easy for me with my quirk. Things are going very well for me so far. At this rate, I'm sure that I will get a placing in the hero course.

Now, where are the rest of these faux villains? I wonder how Yui is doing? Her quirk is not a combat-oriented quirk, but it should serve her well enough for this practical exam. Nejire said that she will be watching the exam proceedings. I have no idea how she plans to do so, but I guess being one of the three strongest students in U.A. probably meant that she is entitled to certain privileges.

Alright, enough of my childish cousin, focus on the present. Listen and pay attention to your surroundings, Onpa Hibiki. Are there anymore faux villains for you to take down? The entire duration of the practical test is only ten minutes long. There is no time to waste and already more than five minutes had passed.

The sudden eruption of noise got me to skid to a halt across the current rooftop I am at as I quickly whipped my head around from side to side. It's like a very huge tremor just popped up out of the blue. Not only that, it is quickly building up and every single cell in my body is screaming at me to quickly run away from here.

Whatever is coming, it is undoubtedly dangerous.

"THE ZERO POINTER!"

Someone's shout got my attention as a gigantic robot that can easily dwarf the buildings in this mock city emerged about a hundred meters away from me at my ten o' clock. Just a swing of its arms alone is enough to demolish an entire block of buildings and send it crumbling down.

_What. The. Fuck._

There is no sane person who would willingly take on the zero pointer when there is no benefit to do so. I could probably take it down if I use my Sonic Bullet at full blast, but I would probably be knocked out right after that from exhaustion. There is a limit on how long I can keep going. Like my cousin, our abilities are powered by our stamina. The more we use our powers and the stronger the output, the faster we tire.

Also, as the name suggests, I earn zero points from taking the zero pointer down. There is no reason for me to go toe to toe with it.

The most sensible option will be to run and get out of the zero pointer's way while trying to take down more of the other faux villains at the same time. From how the crowd are starting to run away from the zero pointer as it went about its blind rampage, everyone had the same idea.

Come to think about it, I think something like this happened in canon. I'm not too sure, didn't really remember too much about it. How did the protagonist resolve this situation in canon anyway? What did that green hair kid do? I don't think going Plus Ultra helps to solve every single problem you face along the way. The examiners in U.A. are not idiots. There must be a trick when it comes to dealing with the faux villain, there must be something that the examiners are looking out for. I doubt that U.A. will send this monstrosity out without a very good reason.

But looking at the zero pointer, I won't be surprised if people actually die in this exam.

I also really need to learn the protagonist's name soon. Can't keep calling him the green hair kid, can I?

I hopped from rooftop to rooftop as the zero pointer mowed through the buildings like a lawnmower. It's not even slowing down in the slightest. This is absolutely crazy. How did Nejire survived this?

"Don't worry, I got ya!"

The faint words to my left which my ears had picked up got me to take a glance in said direction. I barely heard it among the entire commotion even with my super hearing. Is someone in trouble?

A guy my age with black shaggy hair is helping a girl with short chin length hair to stand up in the narrow alleyway between two buildings. Debris are starting to fall around them and trap them in as the guy used his own body to shield the girl from the falling debris. The guy seemed to have some sort of hardening quirk seeing how the debris either bounced off his body or shatter into pieces upon impact. The guy didn't get so much as a scratch.

I looked behind. The zero pointer is about to reach them soon at this rate.

Should I, or should I not? What would Yui do in this situation? What would a true hero do in this situation?

_"I think being a hero means saving people who needs help. That's why I want to be a hero that specialises in rescue operations."_

If it were her, she would definitely help out as much as she can.

I look back at the boy and girl. They will soon be buried by all the falling debris if no one goes to help them.

Screw this test. At this rate, someone might really die. I don't want my dreams to be plagued with nightmares for the rest of my life when I could have done _something _right now.

Without any lingering hesitation, I leapt off the rooftop and dived straight for the two strangers who I don't even recognise. With a blast of sound energy from my palms, I obliterated a huge chunk of the falling debris and blew it away from them.

"Are you two alright?!"

The only response I got was the shattering of concrete as the boy literally punched his way through the remaining debris using his fists alone. That's some serious upper body strength right there.

"Yeah, thanks for the save man!"

"We need to move!" I shouted back through the commotion as I quickly pulled him and the girl out. As I suspected, the guy's quirk is Hardening from how hard his skin feels when I came into contact with it. The girl has some sort of… earphone jacks? Whatever it is that is hanging from her earlobes.

_How in the name of evolution is this possible?!_

Then again, I shouldn't be commenting on that seeing that I can grow literal speakers on my palms. Mine is just a lot more well hidden than other quirk mutations.

"That's some manly moves back there!" The guy laughed jovially as the three of us made a run for it with the zero pointer now hot on our heels. Is he not worried for his life? There's a freakin robot the size of a Transformer chasing after us for crying out loud! This one is also definitely nasty enough to qualify as a Decepticon!

Or maybe the guy with the hardening quirk got dropped on the head as a child. I think I will settle for that explanation.

Said guy also deemed this to be the best possible time to do a round of self-introduction when he jabbed a thumb towards himself. _Come on, at least get your priorities straight. Our lives are currently in **mortal danger!**_

"Name's Kirishima Eijiro! Nice to meet ya!"

"J-Jiro Kyoka." The girl followed his example as she said her name between breaths, trying her best to keep up with us. She will need to work on her stamina if she wants to be a hero.

Oh well. Let's do a round of self-introduction _while a killer robot is trying to steamroll us cause **why not?**_

"Onpa Hibiki." I replied as I blasted the debris that were blocking our path into pieces so that we can continue our way unhindered. The zero pointer is picking up speed. This isn't good.

"How'd you do that?" The guy named Kirishima said in awe and curiosity as we continue to run. For some reason, his name sounded really familiar. Maybe he is another canon character? I am in the same year as the protagonist after all.

"My quirk." I went with the most obvious answer _(because I really don't want to go into an in-depth explanation of how my quirk works right now when the Megatron ripoff is still after our asses)_ as I glanced back to check on the zero pointer. I hadn't heard it move for a few seconds.

My eyes widened when I saw why the zero pointer hadn't been moving.

"GET DOWN!"

I used my hands to grab both of them while my legs audibly kicked at the ground at an angle. I managed to get us out of the way in time as a large robotic hand crashed down where we were at just a second earlier. Thank god for me learning how to amplify the sound of my footsteps to produce blasts of sonic energy that I use to perform emergency turns before I signed up for this. Thank god for Nejire's crazy lessons on how to control waves using my feet, I'm not going to complain about those again.

"H-Holy."

"It's coming again!"

We were still sprawled on the ground. There isn't enough time for all of us to get back up on our feet and run.

This time, Kirishima was the first to act.

The boy recklessly charged ahead and punched at the mechanical arm coming straight at us. It stopped the zero pointer for one short second. I reacted a second later, my right palm aimed at the wrist of the zero pointer. With a Sonic Bullet that I purposely compressed all the sound energy into one single point, I quickly blasted the zero pointer's wrist off before it can cause any further harm to Kirishima.

"Not half bad yourself." I murmured to Kirishima as we stood side by side and panted for breath. I wasn't expecting for him to be able to stop the zero pointer at all. I had automatically assumed the worst scenario when he suddenly dashed ahead.

"Don't just _stand _there! Get moving before it moves again!"

A pair of wire like things wrapped around our arms and pulled us back. Jiro dragged us along just as we registered what was going on and began our run once more.

There's no time to rest.

**"Three minutes and seven seconds left! Amp up your pace people! Go PLUS ULTRAAAA!"**

I really don't need Present Mic's hollering to distract me right now.

"Crap, we still need to run away from this thing for _three_ minutes?" Kirishima complained as the zero pointer went about destroying everything in its way to get to us. I think we might have drawn its aggro towards ourselves from how we had stopped it earlier. Maybe the faux villains are programmed to go after whoever attacked it or did the most damage? Sounds plausible.

"U.A. is insane." I summarised my experience in U.A. thus far as my mind went a mile a minute to try and find a way out of this mess.

"You two scored enough points to pass?" I asked, curious to find out where I stand among the competitors. Might as well do something productive while I'm at it.

"I got about thirty-nine points, I think." Kirishima grimaced as the three of us jumped over a fence and continue running. The zero-pointer mowed it down about two seconds later, still hot on our heels.

_Come on, switch to another target already. Go and try to kill somebody else._

"I only got thirty points before this thing happened." Jiro half-whined, half-complained.

Comparing myself with these two, it seems that I had scored enough to probably pass this.

"How about you?" Kirishima asked with a grin. I don't think he had ever stopped smiling ever since we met. Maybe he should have a smiling match with my cousin to see who can smile the longest.

"I guess I'm luckier. Forty." I replied as I glanced back at the zero pointer in case it decides to surprise us with more of whatever gimmick it has. I _can_ destroy it in one shot but doing so will leave me weak and vulnerable for a while.

"Hey, you alright?"

I looked back at the girl, Jiro, upon hearing Kirishima's concerned voice. She doesn't seem to be able to run anymore with how hard she is panting for breath. The zero pointer is also gradually catching up because we are slowly tiring ourselves out. This isn't good. At this rate, someone will either get very injured, or maybe get themselves killed.

I have to make a decision here, and I think I had already arrived at an answer.

Me and my stupid bleeding heart. I don't think I will fail even if I drop out right now, but I also don't know for sure how many villain points _exactly _I have to score to pass this exam. However, if I fail because of this Megatron ripoff, I'm going to be **_so_** salty.

This better be worth it. I am also going with the assumption that the people that I had been running with for the past two minutes are not ungrateful assholes.

"Hey, I can trust you two to get my back if I fall, right?"

"Of course you can!" Kirishima shouted back, as if he was offended that I had just insinuated that he would leave me to die given the chance to do so.

"Good, cover your ears. It's going to get really loud."

I spun on my heels, both speakers on my palms pointing straight at the head of the zero pointer.

_100% output_

I am so going to feel the effects after this. I can already foresee it. What possessed me to attempt this foolish act of needless bravado?

I blame the numerous All Might TV shows that Hoshi forced me to watch with her. His altruism is too goddamn infectious.

I fired the attack as I shouted the name of the strongest attack I can pull off right now. This is my Super Move. I hope I don't sound like a childish wannabe hero for doing this. This phrase is more like a method to psyche myself to help make it easier for me to turn my superhuman feats a reality anyway.

**"SONICBOOM!"**

* * *

_What the-_

Kirishima Eijiro stared with wide eyes and opened jaws as the zero pointer was literally blown apart by an invisible force that resonated across the mock city louder than a thunderclap. Pieces of debris and machinery rained from the skies and fell around them in a messy heap as he activated his quirk and shielded Jiro from harm.

Wait, what about that Onpa guy?

Kirishima looked back up at Onpa and saw him wobbling on his feet, looking as if he is about to fall anytime soon.

_"Hey, I can trust you two to get my back if I fall, right?"_

Shit, that attack definitely has drawbacks. This guy has to be feeling it right now.

"I got you!"

With a leap, Kirishima managed to catch Onpa before he fell.

"You alright? Answer me, man!"

"It's gone, right?" The guy in his arms asked weakly between breaths with his eyes closed, looking as if he is about to knock himself out anytime soon.

"_Gone? _You **_destroyed _**the entire thing in one go! That was some crazy firepower!" Kirishima exclaimed excitedly as he tried to support and lift Onpa up to his feet. He doesn't seem to be capable of walking on his own right now.

"That was the first time I tried it out for real, wasn't expecting it to work." Onpa muttered under his breath.

**"One minute left! Hurry up if you don't want to get left behind in the dust yo!"**

All three of them winced as one at Present Mic's booming voice. That was too loud.

"Never like that guy's voice. Too damn loud." Hibiki complained about Present Mic as they all sat on the sidewalks, too tired to continue. There aren't any faux villains around them that they can see and searching for them when there is only one minute left is a hopeless cause since they were chased all the way to the edge of the mock city by the zero pointer. There's nothing here.

"Was that a sound-based attack?"

"Yeah, how you know?" Hibiki asked curiously at Jiro's question as he finally slowed his breathing. "You'd be surprised. Most people don't even recognise a sound-based attack when they hear one."

"My quirk is Earphone Jack! I can use it to create sound-based attacks too!" Jiro pointed to the headphone jacks on her ears excitedly as she said this. She even did a simple demonstration when she blasted a small slab of concrete into pieces.

"Huh, what a surprise." Kirishima said goodnaturedly as he hardened his arm for demonstration. "Mine's nothing fancy. It's just hardening myself to withstand blows."

"You single handedly stopped a punch from the zero pointer. That's something to boast about."

**"Annnnnd it's over! Time's up!"**

"Should we start to head back? Can you walk?"

"I should be fine." Hibiki stated as he placed a hand on a nearby wall to support himself before pushing himself up. After a few shaky steps, he managed to walk around without any form of support. "Just tired, that's all. Doing that took a lot out of me. I expected the kickback to be much worse, if I have to be honest."

"Makes me kind of jealous that you could even pull off something like that at all." Jiro said as she stood beside Hibiki with a smile on her face.

"I'm sure you can do something similar in time. It's just a matter of practice." Hibiki replied with a tired smile of his own as he readjusted the earmuffs on his head. "Come on, let's start moving."

"You think we all pass?"

Both Hibiki and Kirishima looked at each other at Jiro's question, then back at her before doing a collective shrug. Onpa muttered his next words in a rather dark manner that got both Kirishima and Jiro to laugh.

"The examiners better pass us for the shit we've been through. If not, I will sue them for endangering our lives for setting that Megatron ripoff on us. You can count on it."

* * *

"You see that, Amajiki, Togata? _You see **that**?_ My little cuz is so cool!"

"Yes, we saw, Hado." Togata replied as Hado put her arms around them in her excitement. They are spectating the entrance exams from where they are in the viewing room together with the examiners. They are the only students with such a privilege since they are the Big Three.

Hado had forcefully wrestled the both of them here today even when today is not a school day, saying that her little cousin needs all the support he can get. After hearing about how Hado had described her cousin for the past few months, both Togata and Amajiki admit that they are also interested to see if Hado's cousin is as good as she claimed.

They were not disappointed.

"Can't… breathe…" Amajiki croaked out when Hado squealed and increase her hold on them in her excitement. At this rate, they will really be choked to death.

Thankfully, Togata is born with the Permeability quirk so he escaped easily. Amajiki though…

"Hado, Tamaki is turning a little blue."

"Eh? Oh, sorry Amajiki! Got a little too carried away back there! But did you see that? The way he spun around and destroyed the zero pointer with only one move? That was so awesome! I mean, there is also the green hair kid who did the same in one punch, but at least Biki didn't break any bones while doing it! Hey, what was that green hair kid's quirk anyway? Strength enhancement? Or something else?"

"I guess we will know in time, won't we? The green hair kid probably got the most rescue points out of the lot." Togata said as the three of them exited the viewing room. There's nothing much to see now that the test is over.

"Eh? But Biki destroyed the zero pointer too! And he also got villain points!"

"But the only rescuing your cousin did was to save the other two from the falling debris and when it caught up to them for the first time." Amajiki added softly. "You can argue that he destroyed the zero pointer because it seemed like it could gain on them at any moment, but the fact is that there are better options available that doesn't leave him defenceless, like taking the girl and run away instead. He had shown the ability to be able to move rather quickly so that was an option. The boy with the hardening quirk could have run by himself with no problems. There wasn't a real need to destroy the zero pointer."

"True, he could have made a better decision." Togata stroked his chin in thought. "What he did may not have earned him rescue points."

"But Biki is not even a hero-in-training yet! What would he know about making split second decisions out on the field like what you expect the Pros to do?! Don't be so mean!" Nejire automatically defended her cousin with fierce protectiveness as she pounded her fists on their backs in a childish manner.

"Whose class do you think your cousin will be placed into? I heard Aizawa will be one of the teachers taking this year's freshmen as homeroom teacher. Well, nothing new there." Togata said in an upbeat manner as he turned to his best friend. "What do you think, Tamaki?"

Tamaki, ever the pessimist, merely muttered a few words of gloom.

"Aizawa? I pity them already."

* * *

"What happened?"

"Zero pointer happened." I grumbled as I met up with Yui near U.A. school gate after everything was done. I tried to clean myself up as best as I could in the changing room, but I could never seem to totally wash out all the dust in my hair thanks to the zero pointer. The impact of its blows created so much dust and smoke that I could barely see through it when it was on my heels.

I will be **_really salty_** if I didn't pass the practical because of that stupid Megatron ripoff. Nejire also declined to comment about my performance when I asked due to '_confidentiality_'.

Like that had stopped her before. She's doing it just to mess with me. I know that logically, the villain points that I had racked up should be enough to qualify me for the hero course, but my traitorous brain kept whispering to me the various _'what-if'_ scenarios ever since the practical had ended.

So here I am, a nervous and salty wreck that still cannot stop worrying about my own performance back in the mock city.

Yui immediately had a worried look on her face after hearing that I had faced the zero pointer.

"Are you fine?"

"Yeah, just a little tired." I sighed as we both walked to the bus stop that would bring us out of here and back home. All I want to do now is to drop myself onto my bed and only wake up when it is noon the next day.

"What about your test?" I asked Yui as we boarded the bus.

"Everything was fine, there wasn't any trouble. I'm confident that I can get into the hero course. Don't worry about yours. I'm sure you did fine."

"Thanks." I replied from the bottom of my heart. Her words are really what I need to hear right now.

Despite the unfortunate interlude, at the very least, something went right for one of us.


	6. Chapter 6- Class 1-A

"This year's bunch looks like a feisty lot."

Aizawa Shota hummed in agreement with Vlad King's statement, whose real name is Kan Sekijiro. The two of them will be the homeroom teachers of U.A.'s hero course for this batch of freshmen intakes. Right now, they are each sorting through the top forty applicants. These are the ones who shined the most brightly out of the thousands of applicants throughout the country that had applied to U.A.

Aizawa knew that it is the most rational decision for the school to appoint him as Class 1-A's homeroom teacher due to his quirk. Class A had a history of taking in the most destructive and problematic students. Almost every batch of problem child in each year will be shoved to Class A.

Talk about troublesome.

"These are likely the most problematic students in this batch."

Both Aizawa and Kan looked at the profiles of a small group of successful applicants strewn about in the middle of the large desk that they are sharing in a meeting room they had booked to sort through the class arrangements. Kan, bless his kind soul, did the initial preparations for the both of them so that it is easier for them now to sort the top forty applicants into two different classes.

They both had a silent agreement to first get the more problematic students out of the way first.

"You sorted them by their quirk's destructive powers?"

"Used their villain scores as a quick gauge. It won't be an entirely accurate display of their abilities but it will have to do at this point. We can do the minor adjustments later when the important matters had been decided. This is the list of those who had scored forty and above villain points. I also added the recommended students and some notable mentions in the list. There are twelve in total that I think deserves this special attention."

Aizawa quickly looked through the twelve pieces of documents on the table. He has faith in Kan's judgements, so he takes his word for it that when he means that these twelve students deserves special attention, they really need the attention.

_Awase Yosetsu_

_Bakugo Katsuki_

_Honenuki Juzo_

_Iida Tenya_

_Midoriya Izuku_

_Onpa Hibiki_

_Shinso Hitoshi_

_Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu_

_Todoroki Shoto_

_Tokage Setsuna_

_Tokoyami Fumikage_

_Yaoyorozu Momo_

"As a rule of thumb, all the problematic ones are yours." Kan got the ball rolling. Aizawa rolled his eyes instead.

"I hate you."

"Let's start with the recommended students. There are five who were accepted this year, so it is going to be an uneven split. You wanted Shinso, didn't you? You can take the mini you. I swear, he looks like your secret love child or something. Just look at both of your dead fish eyes, so devoid of soul."

"I'm going to pretend that I did not just hear that."

"You should also take Todoroki, considering he's said to have some problems with his father, Endeavour. Another problem child for you to babysit."

"Two guys? It's tradition to sort the genders as equally as possible, so that means I am also going to get a girl and that brings the number up to three. Which other brat are you going to dump on me?"

"Seeing that I am such a kind soul, I bestow upon you the right to choose between Yaoyorozu and Tokage."

"Yaoyorozu." Aizawa decided immediately. "She seems rational enough."

"Fair enough, then Tokage and Honenuki are mine."

The two teachers took the papers documenting the five recommended students to their respective sides. Aizawa eyed the three student profiles on his side of the table. Two out of the three looks like they are easy enough for him to handle. The last one is the problem.

_Endeavour's_ kid. Rational thinking tells him that this is going to go _so_ well.

Please notice the sarcasm used here.

Both teachers then turned their attention to the remaining seven students that needs the '_special attention_'.

"If it's the problematic ones, then I should take Bakugo and Midoriya." Aizawa reasoned logically. From what Aizawa had remembered when he spectated the entrance exams, Bakugo has the makings of a good hero, but he also has an explosive temper paired with a vulgar mouth. It is going to be a pain trying to shape him into a decent hero. Midoriya, on the other hand, has a quirk that he doesn't have any control over.

His rational thinking is also screaming at him that this would not go well _at all_. It is taking all of his willpower to ignore the cries his survival instinct are wailing at him. It goes something like **_ABORT! ABORT! ABORT MISSION!_** He can hear his very soul weeping at the thought of the trying year ahead of him for accepting the two problem child into his class.

But did he heed his own warning? _Of course **not**_, because he is a suicidal idiot that derives sadistic enjoyment from torturing himself.

He really needs to get himself pissed drunk as soon as the class sorting is done. He can already feel the headache forming. Kan can join him. He earned the right to do so since they are currently both suffering together. The best relationships are often forged through pain and suffering.

"The both of them _together_? You sure?" Kan clarified as he went through the profile of both Bakugo and Midoriya once more. _Everything _about the students is listed in their profiles. Everything from the time of their birth to the comments that their middle school teachers have about them. U.A. is extremely stringent and meticulous when it comes to nurturing their students. They get every single detail about their students that they can legally get their hands on so that they can give them the best education. This level of detail that they are willing to go to is why U.A. is still the best hero academy in Japan.

Kan is more than happy to dump the two ticking time bombs into Aizawa's class, but he still decided to clarify with Aizawa further to make sure his sloppy looking colleague did not regret his decision.

Thus, he pointed at Bakugo's profile. Specifically, at what his middle school homeroom teacher had to say about him when U.A. had asked her for _more _details not officially written in the students' records.

"It's said right here that Bakugo and Midoriya may have known each other since young, but Bakugo is almost always at loggerheads with Midoriya. I know our hero course promotes rivalry between students to push them further, but _this_ doesn't really seem like a healthy rivalry to me no matter how I look at it."

"My quirk is best suited to properly restrain Bakugo and also to prevent Midoriya from foolishly hurting himself like what he did in the entrance exams. Think about it, the most logical outcome is to put them in my class."

"If you insist." Kan said as he shuffled and passed both Bakugo and Midoriya's profile to Aizawa, who accepted his fate with a resigned sigh.

The two teachers look at the remaining five students remaining to sort through before they go through the less problematic ones. The remaining five students are those with quirks that were deemed to be potentially the most destructive or problematic to handle out of all forty successful applicants into U.A.'s hero course.

In hero academies, it is a common occurrence for students' quirks to go out of control during training or for things to go overboard in the heat of the moment. As teachers, it is their responsibility to help their students should such things ever happen. Hence, compatibility of quirks between teachers and students is equally important when deciding which teacher gets to teach which student. It was with this thinking that Kan and Aizawa decided to sort the earlier seven students the way they did. Their own quirks need to be able to immediately stop their students when the situation is dire enough to call for such an intervention.

"These five seem to either have mellow enough personalities, good enough characters, or decent enough control over their quirks for us to not worry too much about. Doesn't really seem to matter which class we put them into. Since you already have five out of the twelve, I take one and you take four?"

"Fine by me. You can pick first."

Kan took another look at the remaining five students.

_Awase Yosetsu_

_Iida Tenya_

_Onpa Hibiki_

_Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu_

_Tokoyami Fumikage_

"Awase."

"You can take him."

"Tetsutetsu."

"Fine by me."

"Tokoyami."

"Are you confident enough to stop him when his quirk gets out of control during nighttime training?"

"Fair point. He's yours."

Aizawa quietly took Tokoyami's profile to his own side of the table.

"Iida."

"No offense, but I don't think your Blood Control can do much should Iida's quirk go out of control. Have you seen how fast Ingenium can go? Iida should be able to go just as fast, or maybe even faster than his brother given more training."

"Wait, this is not a six-to-six split! I thought the split was supposed to be equal! Your class is going to be seriously overpowered!"

Aizawa ignored Kan's accusing finger.

"What is it that you told me earlier? _As a rule of thumb, all the problematic ones are yours._" Aizawa mockingly imitated Kan's voice. Oh, he has no qualms in letting Kan see his smug smile. That is what he gets for being such a smart ass earlier.

How did the saying go again? _Karma is a bitch._

Aizawa watched in satisfaction when Kan groaned in defeat. Logical thinking always prevails. Kan knows very clearly that the point he just raised is a valid one.

Messing around with Kan is always so fun. It's the small things in life that brings him sadistic joy in his otherwise dull life.

"Fine, fine, Iida is yours." Kan conceded before waving a certain student's profile in front of Aizawa's face.

"Since you already have seven out of the twelve, I want Onpa in my class given what he can do." Kan took a closer look at the student's profile. "Sound Wave, huh? That is one potentially destructive quirk. Thankfully, it seems like he has a good handle on his temper unlike the Bakugo kid."

"Wait. He's one of the two who destroyed the zero pointer, right? That brings his threat level to be at least on Bakugo's level at his worst and Midoriya's at his best. In that case, he should be in **_my _**class in case anyone needs to stop his quirk from running out of control. Did you even read what the doctors noted down when his quirk first manifested?"

"The almost destroying his entire house part? Come on! That was when he was four or five! That's a decade ago! You already got all the good ones!" Kan retorted. "Leave some for my class!"

"I'm just making the most logical decision through rational thinking." Oh, how he enjoys messing with Kan, slowly siphoning him of the best students and seeing him slowly going crazy from it is definitely the highlight of this accursed day.

"Tell me honestly, what can you do if Onpa's quirk ran out of control or if he…" Aizawa took a closer look at Onpa Hibiki's profile, and squinted his eyes to quickly read it again to make sure that his eyes are not playing tricks on him. His trained and dry eyes caught a certain incident that was documented when the student was still in middle school. The one he was in before he transferred schools when he moved to Musutafu.

"… created a miniature earthquake in the school with just his voice alone?"

Heck, he had seen _things _as a Pro Hero before he became a teacher at U.A., and even then it took a moment for him to digest what he had just read. Aizawa is sure that even Mic did not have such destructive capabilities with his quirk when he was at Onpa's age.

"He did _what_?"

Aizawa used his finger to point at a line of text on the piece of document they are both reading.

"According to what was written by his middle school homeroom teacher, there was such a case. It stated that he was defending his childhood friend, Kodai Yui, from bullies. Claimed it was an act of self-defence because the perpetrators used their quirks to try and do them harm first. And then, _somehow_, he made all the bullies transfer schools before the sun rose the next day."

"So, the type that absolutely takes no shit and with enough influence to make his enemies miserable when he is absolutely pissed. Who knows? He might be able to help you keep Bakugo and Midoriya in line."

"Yeah, fat hope." Aizawa snorted, because since when had life been so smooth sailing for him when it comes to his teaching career? "Kodai Yui… that name rings a bell. You know anything about this person?"

"She's one of the successful applicants." Kan grunted as he rummaged through the box next to him and passed over Kodai Yui's profile and her score for the entrance exams to Aizawa.

"Kodai seems to have a calming effect on Onpa and conversely, Onpa seems to be able to get Kodai to open up a little more, huh?" Aizawa read the comments out loud that was made by the students' middle school homeroom teacher on both students. "Do you think we should pair them up in the same class if they both have positive effects on each other, like how we plan to do later to Kirishima and Ashido when we first read their profiles?"

"Kirishima and Ashido are different from Onpa and Kodai." Kan said seriously, and Aizawa mentally slapped himself awake when Kan used this tone of voice, because it is in such instances that Kan made valid and logical points that he should really consider. "Look at every single comment their homeroom teachers had about them from elementary school to middle school. They obviously have a problem in making more friends that are not each other. They would just automatically gravitate towards each other, trapped in their own little circle if we place them in the same class. That's not a very healthy habit to have for a future hero. They need to open up more and make more friends, especially Kodai. Onpa at least managed to befriend Shinso… Shit. Shinso is in _your _class, so Onpa is also going to your class, isn't he?"

_Finally._

**_Checkmate_****.**

Aizawa had never felt his smile growing so wide before. Oh, _sweet, sweet, victory._ It took Kan long enough to realise that he had been cornered.

"Why, thank you for your kind donation, Kan."

"I hate you."

"I told you, logical thinking always prevails." Aizawa allowed himself to revel in his victory for two seconds before going back to the topic proper. _Only _two seconds. Unlike what the rumours in U.A. say about him, he can be merciful when he wants to.

"Okay, Kan. Seriously speaking, Onpa and Kodai have potential to be great heroes. We just need to help them with their reluctance to socialise more. That means we need to make sure that both Onpa and Kodai _can _make friends even if we separate them into different classes. If not, it would just be a lonely three years for them. If that is the case, then it might be better to put them together."

Kan groaned and covered his face with his palms at the dilemma Aizawa presented.

"Why is this so troublesome? Why did I sign up to be a teacher?"

Question of the year. Aizawa asked himself that same question every single day at every waking moment.

"Put Kodai aside for now. We can decide on which class we want to sort her in later when we are making the final adjustments. Let's sort through the remaining students and decide from there."

It took them a few torturous hours that is littered with rational arguments and a healthy amount of cursing and swearing at the job assigned to them, but when the clock struck midnight, they only had a handful left which had left them scratching their heads on how they should sort them.

Aizawa picked up Kodai Yui's profile once more as he went through the current list of students in both classes. After a moment of thoughtful silence, he looked back up to face Kan as he waved the piece of paper in front of his face, who is currently scrutinising the profile of one Kaminari Denki.

"I have a suggestion regarding Kodai. This is what I think…"

* * *

Sometimes, I think fate just wants to screw with me.

In U.A., the forty freshmen who got accepted into the hero course are divided evenly between two classes, Class 1-A and Class 1-B. Despite my run-in with the Megatron ripoff, the logical part of my brain knew that Yui and I getting accepted was a given, but guess which class I got assigned to?

_You got it right. _

The class that would be in the centre of every single mess of a shitstorm that is canon. Class freaking 1-A. Makes me wonder which character from canon I replaced. I only remembered a scant few from my prior knowledge, so I don't know for sure. I'm not even sure if I remembered their quirks right.

The worst part?

Yui is assigned to Class **1-B**. I'm going to suffer alone in my new class.

And if you are curious, when I mean _suffer_, I mean-

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE ALREADY, HUH? YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU?"

God damn it, he's so damn **_LOUD_**. My ears are ringing despite me sitting at the very opposite end of the classroom with my mufflers on full sound-blocking mode.

Yui and I decided to be a little early on the first day of school so that we can get the good seats in our respective class. Shinso had said that he wants to sleep in a little, and then like the _good friend_ he is, threw me the wonderful task of reserving a good seat for him. By good seats, we mean the seats at the very corner of the class right at the very back. The type of seats that all three of us are used to sitting at for various personal reasons ever since we all started elementary school.

I told you. Birds of the same feather flock together. We are all not the most sociable people.

Everything was nice and quiet until the loudmouth with a tendency to badmouth anything and everything entered the class, and then somehow started quarrelling with everybody else. It was through their conversations that I finally recalled that his name is Bakugo Katsuki.

Meanwhile, I on the other hand, have my head lying on my arms on my desk, trying to block out the noise and still living in denial. I am tempted to use my quirk to dampen the surrounding noise but overusing my quirk for such a mundane thing sounds like a bad idea. I cannot possibly maintain it forever and it saps my strength. Besides, now that I am classmates with this Bakugo guy, I guess I have to get used to his loud volume sooner or later, and better sooner than later.

I simply lay my head on the table to rest, deciding to finally use my quirk to reduce the sounds around me because I am slowly feeling a headache forming. Anyone who got very close to my seat will find that their sense of hearing had been hampered, but it would still be within my own range of comfort for me.

"Like I care. What middle school are you from, you **_extra_**?"

Thank whatever deities up there that I am not his desk mate. His voice is even worse than Present Mic, and that is saying something. Where's our homeroom teacher that I vaguely remembered about from canon? The Eraser-something? This is the first time in both my lives that I am actually _begging _for class to start. Bakugo's voice is just that loud and annoying.

Please, just let this be over soon.

Oh, who am I kidding? We are going to be classmates for the next three years.

Joy.

Why? _Why _couldn't Yui join me in my suffering at the very least? She would have make great company. The both of us wouldn't need to go out of our way to make new friends because most people are pretentious people anyway, often seeing us for the benefits we can bring to them instead of who we are as a person. **_Who_** thought that it would be a great idea to separate the both of us? And what about Yui? I am good at interacting with people, I just **_choose _**not to interact with people because I am highly selective about the people I want to interact with. However, Yui is different. Social interactions is really not her strong suit. Will she be fine alone?

And where the hell is Shinso? He's supposed to be in this class, Hoshi said that he got into 1-A too. Don't tell me that he is going to be late on his very first day in U.A.?

"Glad to see that you are suffering. Brightens up my morning like your daily dose of coffee."

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Without even lifting my head to see what is going on around me, I can tell that Shinso is taking the seat on my left that I had reserved for him solely based on where his voice had come from and the sound of a chair shifting.

"And **_you _**are supposed to **_suffer _**together with **_me_**. Was thinking that you might be late on your first day of school." I replied without even looking back up, still trying to live in denial at the fact that the person who had been with me since elementary school, the one constant in my life that I can always count on, is now in _another _class and I have to put up with the incoming three years worth of canonical shitstorm on my own. I don't even know what the shitstorm is going to be about, which made me feel worse. Bloody hell, I don't even have any idea on who the antagonists are.

(_No, don't say that I am not suffering alone because Shinso is here with me. The salty asshole that is Shinso doesn't count as good company. Not even close. Yui is the angel and he is the devil. I am but a mere mortal always running damage control for the three of us when they screw things up because they are so inept at social interactions. Shinso's snarky mouth always made everything worse because he is Shinso.) _

At least if everything goes wrong, I can just drag Shinso down to suffer with me. If he doesn't suffer with me, I will make absolutely sure that he suffers with me.

"Hey, are you alright?"

I don't recognise that voice, so I finally lifted my head up to see which stranger just talked to me. I spotted a girl with long black hair tied into a ponytail looking at me with concern in her eyes.

"Oh, don't worry too much about it. Lover boy here is just gloomy that- OW!"

I ignored Shinso's yelp when I 'accidentally' kicked him off his chair and opted to simply reply to whoever had spoken to me with a serene and friendly expression on my face. All the practice I had in interacting with conceited strangers when I attended all the compulsory corporate networking events that my parents and older brother dragged me to trained me enough to put on any mask on my face at the snap of the fingers.

See? I told you I am good at socialising. I just _choose _not to.

"I'm fine. It's just that…" I looked from the girl to Bakugo, and then back to her. "... potty mouth over there has some seriously good lungs. Hearing him speak at this volume is going to give me a migraine."

"Sensitive hearing?" She asked curiously as she gestured to my earmuffs and I nodded in affirmation. She's definitely a smart one to figure that out just from the sight of my earmuffs alone. My new classmate chose her seat to be in front of Shinso, who is just getting back up from the floor.

"Sorry to hear that." She said in such a sincere manner that I can actually feel the genuinity oozing out from her words. She put a hand on her chest in a demure and overly formal manner when she introduced herself. That action reminded me a little of Hoshi when she has to put on the rich girl mask at social gatherings. Maybe this person is also from a wealthy family?

"My name is Yaoyorozu Momo, it's nice to meet you."

"Onpa Hibiki. Likewise."

"Holy, Onpa, is that you?"

A guy with bright red hair that is spiked up in a wild manner made his way to my table jovially. He got right into my face the moment he stood in front of my table and pointed a finger at himself.

"It's me, Kirishima! Remember me? I knew you also passed the exams when I got the acceptance letter! How cool is it that we are all in the same class?!"

"Hey there, Kirishima." I returned the greeting although I cannot bring myself to have the same level of enthusiasm that he is exuding, because I am still living in denial that I am in freaking **_Class 1-A_**_ without **Yui **with me_. Even then, I'm glad to see that there is at least a familiar face here. It also helps that Kirishima seems like a genuinely nice fellow from what he did during the entrance exams.

It's been a long time since I had seen someone as selfless and helpful as him that is not All Might. Even the No. 2 hero is a self-serving asshole from how he only takes cases that helps boost his own popularity.

"Didn't recognise you with that new look." I added with a smile when I spotted Kirishima's newly dyed hair. His jolly mood is infectious. "When you mean all in the same class, does that mean-"

"I'm here too." Jiro made her presence known as she walked up to my table and stood by its side, a faint smile on her face. "I bumped into Kirishima earlier on the first floor when we were searching for the classroom. We just made it to class."

All five of us did a round of introductions. It might not be so bad to pass time like that until class starts.

"Wait, you are really _that _Onpa? Like _the _Onpa that more or less controls the entire audio industry?"

"Uh, yes?" I scratched the back of my head nervously when Jiro made the connection. This reaction is bound to happen sooner or later. It is the same for every single class or school that I went to.

"That's so cool! I use some of the equipment that your family made and they were so good!"

"Yeah, no kidding, I use their brand of earphones too when I'm listening to music." Kirishima added with a large grin on his face. "You got yourself a loyal customer here."

"I'll be sure to relay that to my parents." I laugh it off, hoping that they are not the type to try and curry favours because I am an Onpa. For now, it seems like they aren't, but who knows? I had my fair share of dealing with two-faced classmates over the years ever since I started elementary school. You will be appalled at how pretentious teenagers can be in this world.

My ears caught wind of some weird shuffling sound through the corridor that has no business doing there. I had heard many weird things before with my ears but I just don't recognise that kind of sound. The sound is just… weird? Like someone dragging something across the floor kind of weird except that the object is... moving on its own? That's the best way I can describe it.

I turned my head to the door, already seeing the robotic bespectacled guy talking to the green hair guy and the gravity girl right there. Oh good, looks like all the ingredients for the recipe of disas- _I mean_, all the key players of canon that I can remember with my poor memory are all gathered here. Still, who was it exactly that I replaced with my mere presence alone? Did he or she had a significant impact on the plot?

Hopefully not, or I might have just unknowingly doomed the world.

Also, what's with that weird shuffling sound? It's like… there is a... _giant caterpillar_ crawling on the ground? Like, _what the hell?_

"Hibiki?" Yaoyorozu asked in concern when she saw the look of confusion on my face.

I really hope I don't sound like an idiot when I voice my thoughts.

"My ears may be deceiving me, but I think… there might be something crawling out on the corridor right now and we might not like it."

Because absolutely no one likes to look at a giant caterpillar up close on the first day of school.

"Something crawling out on the corridor?" Kirishima asked with an equally confused look on his face. "Like?"

At that fateful moment, a voice with the energy level of a dead worm could be heard from somewhere just outside the door. Both the green hair protagonist and the gravity girl gave a high pitched squeak upon hearing that sudden sound. How could they not realise that there is a giant caterpillar right _behind _them? Do they even have any situational awareness?

"If you are here to socialise, then get out. This is…" There is an obnoxiously loud slurping sound from somewhere outside the door.

Ew, I feel disgusted just from hearing it.

"...the _Hero Course_."

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the miracle. Right here, in the very **_best _**_hero academy in Japan_, our homeroom teacher makes his very **_first _**appearance and he appears in a…

**_Sleeping bag._**

I cannot help but let my palm meet my face at the sight of my homeroom teacher hopping (_Yes, you read that right. **Hopping**)_ into the classroom, still warmly wrapped like a cocoon in his sleeping bag, before emerging out of that dirty sleepy bag like a butterfly that had just undergone the wonderful and magical process of metamorphosis.

From the dumbfounded gazes that my classmates are giving this weirdo, I am sure that my eyes are not seeing things. If I am, then everyone else are also seeing things. I could even hear the silent _what the flying fuck _explodiboy muttered, the one guy that I absolutely detest within the first ten seconds of observing him because of his loud voice and unlikeable personality. For the first time since I met this world's version of Deidara, our minds meet even if we had never spoken a single word to each other.

For that to happen, the world must be ending.

And the energy level of our weird homeroom teacher is still on the same level of a dead worm no matter how I try to view him in a better light. There is only _one thought_ that ran through my mind right at that very moment when my mind registered this as my new reality and my sanity vanished.

_This giant caterpillar is now my homeroom teacher._

* * *

**AN: A quick tally of your responses from the review section tells me that most of you are more interested to see HIbiki and Yui in separate classes, so here it is. If you are curious, Shinso and Hibiki replaced Koda and Sato, because I don't feel like they had really made a difference in BnHA thus far. Didn't see the Shinso getting into Class A part coming, did you? Muahaha.**

**It's 5am in the morning and I should really get some much needed sleep. (God, editing these two chapters took so damn long.) I don't know which timezone you guys are in, but Happy New Year in advance everyone! Hope these two chapters are a good enough gift from me to celebrate the incoming 2020!**

**As usual, I hoped that you guys had enjoyed the story thus far.**


	7. Chapter 7- Hero Costumes

The Quirk Apprehension Test was not particularly hard, nor was it memorable. The only highlight was how Aizawa-sensei amped up the pressure so much by claiming that he would expel the unlucky fellow who got himself the very last place, then called it off at the end of the test by saying that he was employing a 'logical ruse'.

I call bullshit.

Aizawa looked absolutely ready to really expel Midoriya. He definitely would have if Midoriya didn't quickly find a way around using his quirk without maiming himself to the point that he couldn't move.

I also cannot help but feel bad for Midoriya, to break the bones in your limbs after using your quirk every single time… _ouch_. I could actually _hear _his finger breaking when he did that impressive ball throw thanks to my super hearing. I don't like the sound of it at all.

Midoriya even went on to complete the rest of the test after the ball throw without giving his finger any medical attention. The constant _creak creak creak_ of the bones of his broken finger constantly grinding each other grated against my ears _so badly_ that I had no choice but to ask Yaoyorozu to create something simple for Midoriya with her quirk to at least wrap his broken finger up.

Shinso did try to 'cheat' by using his quirk to brainwash people to complete the fitness tests for him. Aizawa caught him and was deliberating on whether to allow such behaviour to continue, since he did say that we are all allowed to use our quirks. In any case, it exposed Shinso's quirk to the entire class the moment Aizawa-sensei caught him, and everyone learnt quickly during the tests to not reply to him whenever he starts a conversation. Ultimately, Aizawa-sensei did settle for letting Shinso do whatever he wants, provided he is smart enough to somehow catch people unaware with his quirk even when the entire class is now wary of it.

I might or might not have used my quirk to modulate Shinso's voice to help him a little. I don't know if Aizawa-sensei was aware of it, but if he did, he did not say anything. Shinso did manage to catch a few of our classmates unaware to complete some of the fitness tests for him, so he got a decent standing in the class.

I managed to get 7th place overall, which isn't too bad considering the nature of my quirk doesn't directly give me any physical powerups.

My class ended early and Shinso had to hurry home to run an errand for his parents, so I waited for Yui alone as I sat on one of the numerous benches around the school. She caught up soon enough.

"Sorry, our class's Quirk Apprehension Test took longer than expected."

"It's fine, I just got here too. Your class also took the Quirk Apprehension Test today?"

"Mm."

The both of us walked side by side at a leisurely pace and exited the school compound. The sun is setting, painting everything in an orange hue.

"We have Foundational Hero Studies tomorrow. Rumours has it that All Might is going to conduct the lesson himself."

"I have the same lesson too tomorrow, although I think it should be the period after yours. What I don't get is why is it _your_ class that gets All Might as the teacher. Aren't our classes supposed to be equal to each other? Why the special attention?"

Inwardly, I know that the real reason has to be because of Midoriya. Outwardly, I can only shrug.

"Beats me, but I'm not complaining. I am curious as to how good a teacher the No. 1 hero can be. Being a good hero doesn't necessarily translate to being a good teacher."

"Someone here is not an All Might fanboy, I see."

"And you are?" I retorted.

"Nope." She replied, although there is a faint trace of a smirk on her face. I would have missed it if I hadn't known her for such a long time. "I'm more of a Thirteen fan than an All Might fan."

"Nejire-nee said that our first Foundational Hero Studies lesson is the first time where we get to use our hero costume for real. I am a little excited. I wonder if the support company designing my costume managed to produce what I specified?"

"U.A. is the best hero academy. Whatever support company they chose to help design our costumes probably will be skilled enough to make our specifications a reality." Yui said offhandedly just as we reached the bus stop. It was just in time as the bus we are waiting for arrived at the exact same time.

"I'm still excited to try out my hero costume. Come on, Yui, don't tell me that you are not excited at all." I argued as we both boarded the bus and got ourselves a seat.

"Mm."

"Excuse me, I can tell when you are lying."

"Mm."

"Yeah, says the one who designed her costume based on the _Ultraman _series. And people say that **_I'm_** the one watching outdated movies and animated series."

"Says the one who designed his costume to have a trench coat in dark red colour because he is a fanboy of a certain character of a certain outdated anime. All you lack now is a bow and arrow."

"My costume design is _practical_. Besides, there's no way I'm going to wear a freaking skin tight shirt in public for everyone to see. If I have to wear it, I am going to wear something else _over _it."

I tossed Yui my ipod the moment she finished wearing her earpiece. As usual, I left it up to her to choose which playlist she wants to listen to today.

"English songs this time?" I asked the moment I heard the song starting to play from my earmuffs.

"I'm worried that I might be falling behind on my English. Might as well try to do something about it while I'm relaxing."

"I could always give you extra lessons, all you had to do is to ask. You know English is my best subject. First English lesson and already I'm Present Mic's favourite."

Yui raised an eyebrow at me.

"Your English is so good that sometimes I wonder if English is your first language instead of Japanese."

"Har. har." I rolled my eyes, although internally I know that she is not too far away from the truth.

We spent the next thirty minutes in comfortable silence until Yui reached her stop. Mine is five stops after hers.

"See you tomorrow."

"Mm. Take care."

All things considered, the first day of school isn't so bad. Makes me wonder how long this temporary peace will last until the canonical shitstorm hits the figurative fan.

* * *

The second day of school starts with a cup of coffee, like every other day of my life.

"I don't think drinking coffee every morning is healthy, Hibiki."

"I will live." I replied to Yui's question as I bought myself a cup of coffee from the canteen before we both head up to class. "I can't start my day without my daily dose of coffee."

"Tea is better."

"Only coffee can give me the kick I need to get me ready for a brand new day. Tea just doesn't pack the punch I need."

The two of us squabble over the greatness of coffee and tea as we both head for the staircase that will bring us to our classrooms. We reached her classroom first, and I was about to wave her goodbye when somebody called out after me.

"Hey, I recognise you, you are from the same class as us!"

A yellow hair guy ran up to me with a dwarf with purple balls as hair following him. The dwarf's attention is immediately on Yui, and somehow, I really don't like how he is looking at her. Thankfully, we are already right outside Yui's classroom and she had disappeared beyond the doors of her classroom the moment she had the chance. She is not really a fan of social interactions.

"Yeah, good morning." I greeted back as I opened the door to our classroom, which is just beside Yui's, making a mental note to learn their names later. The bespectacled robot-guy is already there, sitting at his seat and his back ramrod straight. I gave him a nod of greeting, which he returned while pushing up his glasses with a finger.

Dude also needs to learn how to chill a little.

My yellow hair classmate and the purple dwarf was immediately distracted by another conversation that is currently happening in another corner of the class. I guess I will ask for their names later.

"Good morning, Onpa-san."

"Yaoyorozu." I greeted back as I put down my bag at the foot of my table. "Good morning to you too. You are here early. Excited for today's lesson?"

"I'm excited for today's Foundational Hero Studies! How about you?" She asked excitedly, her hands clasped together. "There are rumours that All Might is personally teaching this subject for our class!"

"Honestly? I'm more excited about trying out my hero costume than about the idea of All Might teaching us." I said with an awkward laugh. "I just hope my costume doesn't turn out to be anything too weird."

"I'm sure it will be fine."

"I'm hoping it will turn out to be as ugly as you feared." Shinso cut in as he made his appearance, waltzing his way in class until he reaches his table and sat down unceremoniously in his chair, his usual evil looking grin on his face.

"Wow, I thought we were friends?" I drawled out lazily. "What did you put for your costume design anyway?"

Bastard didn't even show us his costume design when Yui and I showed him ours. Asshole.

"You will get to see it later during Foundational Hero Studies anyway, why spoil the fun?"

"Tch, no fun at all."

"I've been wanting to ask this for a while now, but did the two of you knew each other before coming to U.A.?"

At Yaoyorozu's question, Shinso and I took a brief look at each other before shrugging as one.

"Yeah, we were both from the same middle school." I replied. "It's kind of weird, but I only knew him when he starts hitting on my sister. I wouldn't even had known that he existed otherwise."

"I did **_not _**hit on Hoshi-"

"Dude, you are already on a first name basis with her."

"Well, it's confusing for everyone when I keep calling you two 'Onpa'! Of course I have no choice but to call you two on a first name basis!"

Judging from the confused look on Yaoyorozu's face, I don't think my explanation worked.

A guy with half white and half red hair took his seat in front of me without even greeting us. All he sent our way was a cold and disinterested look. I swear, this class consists of a bunch of weirdos. It's like me, Shinso, and Yaoyorozu are the only normal ones out of the entire class.

Shinso sits at the very far left at the last row of the class. I sit next to him on his right. Yaoyorozu sits in front of Shinso while the guy with the weirdly coloured hair sits in front of me. On my right is a guy with the head of a bird and who obviously have a fanatical obsession over the colour black. Sitting in front of the bird guy is Jiro, who hasn't arrived to class yet.

The positions of Shinso, Yaoyorozu, and my seats is what I mentally dubbed as the Golden Bermuda Triangle of Normalcy. So far, the three of us seems to be the only sane ones in class. We have to stick together.

I also realised that I really need to start learning the names of my other classmates. Preferably getting all of their names right before the end of the week.

Or maybe I could start right now.

* * *

Foundational Hero Studies came faster than expected.

"Can you believe it? We are finally wearing our costumes!"

"Just the thing I'm waiting for!"

"All Might is also teaching us! **_All Might!_**"

"PLUS ULTRA!"

The guys are all talking excitedly as we all change into our hero costumes in the male changing room. Other than Shinso and Kirishima, I don't really know the rest of them.

I took a good look at my costume. As requested, it is tailored to help make my quirk easier to control and use. Yui and I both like the colour red, so that is the main colour for both our costumes. Mine is largely made up of some durable, stretchable unknown material (_unknown to me, at least_) that is also able to conduct sound easily. My costume is a skin-tight black long-sleeved shirt complete with a pair of long pants that makes it easier for me to move. However, since I dislike the idea of wearing a skin-tight shirt in public, I wear a large red trench coat over it that also allows me to move easily.

If you guys are wondering why my costume looks like Archer's attire from the Fate series, _yes_, I got my inspiration from there. Sue me.

The purpose of the trench coat is not just for aesthetic purposes. There are many hidden pockets sewn on it that I can use to store many items that I may need during my hero work. Daggers, ropes, capture tapes, bandages, medicine, among many others. It also helps to protect me from the cold or from getting a sunburn when I go out on patrols. Nejire had told me that many heroes prefer their costumes to cover as much of their body as possible because getting sunburnt after long hours of daily patrol is not a pleasant feeling at all. I took her advice into consideration when I designed my costume.

The important add-ons are the metal gauntlets that has a circular opening at the palm area that matches exactly with the position of the speakers on my own palms. My gauntlets will be constantly vibrating inconspicuously at an inaudible frequency that is powered by the sound of my own heartbeat, transmitted through my costume that is made of sound conducting material. Technically, I don't need the costume to make the gauntlets work, but the suit does make the process a lot more efficient. How the makers of the costume did it confounded me, but they did it.

The gauntlets pretty much act as an amplifier for me, which saves me a lot of mental processing and brainpower, and thereby reducing the drain I feel from using my quirk. With this, the sound of my heartbeat can easily transmit themselves over to my gauntlet without me needing to make a conscious effort to do so with my quirk, like what I often did when I don't have a suit to aid me. It indirectly helps me to conserve my stamina and allows me to last longer in combat.

The other purpose of the metal gauntlets is to help me control soundwaves better with my quirk so that I would not accidentally explode anyone into pieces with a single blast. Amplifying soundwaves to destructive levels is easy, controlling it to incapacitate people without accidentally killing them is way harder.

I also have metal boots that extends up to just below my knees. Walking around in it is a little difficult due to the weight, but I got used to it soon enough. With my costume automatically transmitting the sound of my heartbeat to my boots, it helps me to channel sound waves into the ground more effectively should I need to do that. Also, my boots also has speakers on its soles, allowing me to release sound energy from the bottom of my feet. With this, I can effectively do a sound-powered jump without needing to use my hands, giving me a huge boost in mobility.

Last but not least, my trademark, which is a pair of grey coloured sleek looking earmuffs. I requested for a pair of earmuffs that can also double as a communication device. I specifically emphasised that it must be designed such that it cannot be easily removed or dropped off in combat. I would have settled for a helmet if the support company couldn't make my request a reality, but seeing as they included a muffler instead, they must have full confidence that my request has been fully complied with.

I like it. Mufflers are definitely way cooler looking than helmets.

"Woah, not a bad design." The yellow hair guy from this morning complimented as he put on a thinking pose and walked one round around me. Somehow, I have a feeling he designed his costume solely based on the aesthetic and not on the practicality. His costume might as well be casual wear. "Where did you get the inspiration from?"

"There used to be this anime called Fate Stay Night and there's a character with a similar getup. The anime is kind of retro though."

As I soon found out after coming into this world, the only difference between this world and the previous one I was in was the existence of quirks, and the subsequent impacts that it made on the world. Things like Google, Youtube, the various anime and manga series, even the MCU series that I know of, they are largely the same with a few differences. However, what I was familiar with in my previous life are already several generations old, considered 'retro' or even 'outdated' in present day context. Humanity's technological advancement in this world had been monumentally screwed ever since quirks appeared, because people are suddenly more concerned in suppressing the uprising of villains than to work together to make the world a better place with the newfound superpowers.

Should I be worried that this fact alone speaks volumes of human nature in general?

"You know how to use a katana?! That's so manly!"

Oh, right. How could I forget my katana?

Kirishima inspected my blade with both an excited and curious expression. My quirk excels in dealing AOE damage and can be very destructive in combat. But if I ever stumbled into a situation where I need precision over power, or where I cannot use most of my moves which happens to be AOE in nature, I don't have many options. Thus, I need the help of an equipment to aid me in case I found myself in such a scenario.

I decided that a katana was what I needed. I had learnt more than enough on how to use one during the countless martial arts and weaponry lessons I had attended since young. I do have smaller weapons like daggers and trench knives in the pockets of my trench coat, but I won't be using them until absolutely necessary.

Furthermore, this katana is not a usual katana. It is a sonic blade. It has a stronger cutting power compared to the usual pointy objects and my quirk can make it even deadlier.

After Kirishima is done fawning over my equipment, I took my katana back from his hands, sheathed it, and strapped it over my back. I'm hopeless in archery, but maybe I should get a pair of twin blades to complete the Archer image? Now that the costume has been physically made, maybe I can request for some sort of foldable shield to imitate Rho Aias? _Hmm..._

Nevermind, image comes later. I will have to first test the practical capabilities of my costume in today's lesson.

"You really don't talk much, do you?" Kirishima laughed out loud as he slung an arm around my shoulder. "Lighten up!"

"Sorry, Kirishima, bad habit on my part." I said sheepishly.

Ever since elementary school, I tend to avoid talking to others unless it's necessary because most people that I have met so far tried to befriend me just so that they can get some benefit out of it. I had avoided social interaction for so long that it becomes an ingrained habit.

A bad habit that I will have to kick soon if I want to be a decent hero. Heroes must be capable of social interaction anytime, anywhere, because _you _are the one who will have to encourage and comfort others at the lowest point in their lives.

"Name's Kaminari Denki." Kaminari officially introduced himself as he jabbed a thumb at himself before asking a question in a rather comical manner. "Who's the chick that was with you this morning anyway?"

"Yeah, that's right. Out with it!" The dwarf, now dressed in a diaper-like costume (_Wait, **what? DIAPERS?!**_) pointed an accusing finger at me, yelling at the top of his lungs. It got everyone's attention.

"You mean Yui? We are childhood friends. Known each other since elementary school."

There was a look of shock in Mineta's and Kaminari's eyes.

"LUCKY BASTARD!"

I honestly don't see a reason why they are making such a din.

"I am Midoriya Izuku!" The green hair protagonist finally officially introduced himself to me, even if I can tell that he is trying very hard not to stutter. He is literally shaking in his boots and juicing out a bucket load of sweat. "N-Nice to meet you, Onpa!"

"Nice meeting you too. Your finger okay from yesterday?"

"Y-Yeah, it is! Thanks for asking!"

Discounting the first time we met when we first took the entrance exams (_I bet that he probably doesn't even remember our very first encounter anyway_), the way me and the protagonist of this world officially met is surprisingly… _normal_.

However, something about Midoriya's costume just bugs me. His costume is basically a green full-body jumpsuit, although I can see that there is a hood that he can wear over his head, but there is just so much **_green_**. It looks almost like-

**_Oh my gawd_**

_I am looking at a mini Might Guy, am I?_

"Midoriya." I said solemnly before slowly sticking out my thumb in Might Guy's signature good guy pose, also making extra sure that my pearly white teeth can be seen as I imitated the way Nejire tends to smile. I don't know if my teeth are shiny enough to reflect light to produce the twinkling effect like how Aoyama does regularly, but I can _try_.

Time to channel my inner power of youth. This is too good to pass up.

"Midoriya! I sincerely believe that you are a genius of hard work! May the flames of youth burn strongly in you as we run towards the setting sun!"

"U-Uh…" Midoriya stuttered, a little taken aback from the weird phrase I had just spoke to him, his hands waving in the air a little wildly. "T-Thanks? May the flames of youth burn strongly in you too!"

He returned the same gesture back at me and- _Oh my god_, he actually returned the_ same gesture back at me! And his teeth are SPARKLING! **He is a mini Might Guy!**_ _What had I done?!_ _I need that image **out **of my mind! **NOW!**_

"Like I suspected, your costume is a cosplay of your favourite anime character."

I turned around and saw Shinso in his own hero costume. His costume is simply a dark purple tracksuit with a detachable mask-like device over his mouth. He also has a black colour bracelet he wore on each of his wrists.

"That is definitely an Onpa product." I pointed an accusing finger at the Artificial Vocal Cords he is wearing around his neck. I know what it is at first glance because my older brother was talking about it over dinner a week or two ago, saying something about a support company asking for their expertise in designing a voice modulator that can change a person's voice to imitate others. He even asked Dad and I for our input since our quirk can change voices too. Heck, our company even had a hand in designing Present Mic's equipment, the radio-like thing that he always wears around his neck.

"And is that what I think it is?" I pointed at the bracelets he wore around his wrists.

"Your taste in movies needs a major update, but I quite like the idea of having an electroshock weapon as a backup plan since there will be circumstances that I cannot rely on my quirk." Shinso gave me his evil smirk that I know him for ever since I befriended him. "You are right, the Avengers movie is a timeless classic for a reason. Lots of inspiration to be found in there."

Those bracelets are obviously an imitation of the Black Widow's Bite, the electroshock weapon that Black Widow uses in the movies. I have to admit it is smart of Shinso to add something like that into his hero costume to increase his combat prowess. If he ever gets himself into a head-on fight, he will essentially be fighting quirkless. His quirk doesn't give him any form of direct combat abilities, so he has to rely on the help of supporting equipment if he wants to increase his own strength.

I gave Shinso another lookover before frowning a little. Like Midoriya, something about his entire getup just bugs me.

I realised why a second later.

"Is it just me, or you actually look like an Aizawa Jr.? The only difference is the colour scheme."

"Aizawa Jr.?" Sero parroted before he walked one full circle around Shinso as he inspected Shinso from top to toe. "Hey! You're right! He does look a lot like Aizawa-sensei!"

"Now that he said it, they both have the same droopy eyes." Kaminari did a fine imitation of their dead-fish eyes, which earned a round of laughter from most of the boys in the room.

"And the eyebags." Shoji added.

"The same lazy slouch too." I said dryly.

"Let's don't forget the tracksuit and the fact that both of them have voices that can suck the life out of your very souls." Mineta contributed.

"I also bet that they are both cat people. They both look like one." Sero pointed at Shinso with his finger gun in a '_ta-da!_' manner. Sero's right. I don't know about our homeroom teacher, but Shinso _is _a cat person.

"But Shinso's hair is in a different colour, and Aizawa-sensei's hair is flat." Ojiro chipped in.

"But didn't Aizawa-sensei's hair float up when he used his quirk yesterday? It looked a lot like Shinso's current hairstyle!" Kirishima exclaimed.

Everyone in the room took another look at Shinso.

"Wow, now I can actually see the resemblance. Hey Shinso! When are you going to use the same scarf thing like what Aizawa-sensei uses?" Kaminari said enthusiastically as he tried to comically imitate how Aizawa-sensei uses his scarf yesterday when he was restraining Bakugo, oblivious to how the edge of Shinso's lips are twitching irritatedly. Either that, or Kaminari simply doesn't care.

"I hate you." Shinso whispered just loud enough for me to hear as the guys in the class started listing the similarities that he and our homeroom teacher shared. There are surprisingly a lot of them.

"What? Angry that I exposed the fact that you are Aizawa-sensei's secret love child?"

"You are so _dead_. You know what? You can be the first one to experience how deadly my bracelets can be. Exclusive VIP treatment, just for you."

"Everyone! We need to start moving to Ground Beta now before we are late! All Might sensei is waiting for us!" The bespectacled guy, who I now know is called Iida Tenya and is now dressed in what can be best described as a set of armour, called out loud as he moved his arms up and down in a robotic manner.

"Who fucking made you the boss here, huh, you damn extra?!" A certain loudmouth began to start cursing out loud as he made his way to the door, shoving the robot guy aside when their shoulders brushed past each other.

"Outta my way, four-eyes."

I cannot help but rub the temple of my head with a knuckle.

This is going to be such a _fun _three years ahead of me.


	8. Chapter 8- Battle Trial

Whatever I was expecting from taking part in the Battle Trial lesson, I wasn't expecting to be spectating a _death match_.

"Bakugo! Stop it now, kid! You trying to kill him?!"

Even All Might is already shouting into the comms in an effort to stop Bakugo from murdering Midoriya, worry clear in his eyes. On the screen in the observation room, Bakugo is aiming his large gauntlet straight at Midoriya, obviously preparing something big.

Something big and _extremely **explosive**_.

Our worst fears came true when a _HUGE _explosion tore through the section of the building Bakugo and Midoriya were both in. A massive and visible hole on the building can be easily seen on the screen despite all the smoke and dust that were kicked up from Bakugo's attack.

Which part of _trial _did Explodiboy not understand? This is supposed to be just another practice session! Not a place to settle personal grudges and murder your classmates! How did such a person even get accepted into a hero academy in the first place?!

None of us save All Might knows what is going on because the fixed cameras don't come with sound. All Might only knows what is going on because his comms are directly linked to the participants, so he has full knowledge of what is going on at the scene. If I focus hard enough, I could pick out the conversation between the two rivals with my ears, but that would be wasting my energy which I will need for my own match later.

Besides, it's not like I can interfere right now. I don't have the power or authority to.

"Bakugo. Use that move again and I will forcibly end the match. You will lose."

All Might continue to speak to Bakugo through the comms, berating him for his reckless and violent behaviour. I don't know whether if it actually worked because Bakugo is already hounding after Midoriya with vicious punches instead right after All Might said his piece. I also don't know if he is really heeding All Might's warning or if Bakugo's attack is a one-off thing, because I have no idea how often Bakugo can pull off an attack this big or if there is even a cooldown period.

Midoriya is already running for it. It makes sense. While a single hit from Midoriya can immediately knock Bakugo out or maybe even outright kill him in one strike, the drawback is equally huge. I overheard Uraraka saying that Midoriya broke his limbs trying to destroy the zero pointer during their Entrance Examination in an effort to save her. Inheritor of All Might's quirk or not, there _must _be a limit to how many times Midoriya can continue breaking his limbs without repercussions. Furthermore, in this Battle Trial, beating Bakugo doesn't necessarily mean a victory. Since Midoriya is on the hero team, the only thing that constitutes as a win for his team is if he and Uraraka manages to secure the payload.

If I were Midoriya, I will be focusing on how to win without beating Bakugo, because trying to defeat Bakugo as he is now is too challenging a task to be completed in such a short time frame.

Midoriya clearly had the same line of thought as I did, but how he achieved it stumped me. It's reckless, stupid, suicidal, yet also absolutely _brilliant _in the sense that _no one_ would have seen it coming.

Uraraka was at the upper floors trying to get past Iida to secure the payload, which is a hypothetical nuclear weapon. After taunting Bakugo to settle their grudges with a final attack, halfway through, Midoriya directed his punch upwards to help Uraraka secure their team's victory while taking the full force of Bakugo's explosion. Midoriya's punch was so strong that it created an air cannon that obliterated anything that stood in the way of his fist. It's a lot like how my Sonic Bullet works at its 100% output, except that it is on a way bigger scale and that Midoriya does not need to rely on a steady source of sound to produce such an attack.

However, I don't need to break my bones to do what Midoriya can. That alone is a very huge difference.

Even then, Midoriya still won. The guy who scored last on the Quirk Apprehension Test even though he broke a finger for it, almost got expelled by Aizawa-sensei in the process, _won _the Battle Trial against _Bakugo _of all people. Nejire had told me that Bakugo scored the highest villain points in the Entrance Examinations. Bakugo is no pushover and Midoriya still _won_.

I want to say the reason for his win is because he is the protagonist and he has plot armour protecting him, but after seeing _that?_ No, Midoriya didn't win simply because he is the protagonist. He definitely won because he thinks things through and is willing to work with others, unlike Bakugo. He realised that being a hero isn't all about having the flashiest quirk and becoming the strongest. There is more to becoming a hero than defeating everything that stands in your way.

I can actually respect that.

Although he can really stop with the bone breaking thing. The snap in his bones was so loud to my ears that I could hear it all the way from within the observation room without focusing on it. The sound was not pleasant at all. Midoriya's team might have won, but it also cannot be called a true victory if every battle won is at the cost of his limbs. He is currently out cold right after All Might announced his team's victory. He had suffered some serious damage to his body and not even a week had passed since we got into U.A.

At this rate, Midoriya would die even before he graduates from U.A. He needs some serious help.

_A lot of help._

"You heard something bad?" Shinso asked softly to not draw any attention to us as he stood by my side, although his eyes were still glued to the screen as he witness the aftermath, clearly not believing the amount of destruction both Bakugo and Midoriya caused in their scuffle.

"Was I that obvious?"

"You winced, and you only do so when you hear something you don't like to hear. So, very horribly bad for the mini All Might?"

"Yeah." I admitted. "I heard the bones in his arms snapping all the way from here. From the sound of it, I don't think it is a clean break. It sounded like it fractured into many pieces. I can already feel the phantom pain just by hearing it."

"Ouch." This time, it was Shinso's turn to wince. "Hope Midoriya's alright, but I still think he is an idiot for going all out like that in a mock test. Couldn't he just tune his power down a little? That earlier attack was simply overkill."

"I don't know about the tuning down part, but I think they have something to prove to each other." I said after some thought. "They are childhood friends, and Bakugo obviously held some sort of personal grudge against Midoriya from what we saw during the Quirk Apprehension Test. We should have seen this coming."

"Something to prove, eh?" Shinso muttered thoughtfully. I think he is comparing himself to them, since he is here in U.A. to prove that being born with a 'villainous' quirk doesn't automatically make one a villain. "But what's the point if you aren't alive to tell the tale? At this rate, Midoriya will do himself in before any villain does."

Shinso makes a very good point. Guess the both of us have the same line of thought.

"Let's just hope he found a way to control his quirk before that happens."

Because the other alternative is to stop trying to be a hero went unsaid.

* * *

"Do you have a plan on how we are going to get the nuclear missile, ribbit?"

Asui Tsuyu asked her partner for the Battle Trial as they used their allocated time for planning to quickly come up with a way to win. All Might is supervising the Foundational Hero Studies (_All Might! She can't believe it! ALL MIGHT!_), and they are all using their hero costumes for the first time today.

She and her partner, Onpa Hibiki, are the hero team for this round of the Battle Trial. The opposing villain team consists of Ojiro and Mineta.

"You said that you can stick on walls and leap across large distances, right? That should be enough."

Tsuyu cocked her head curiously to a side. If her memories serve her right, her partner, Onpa Hibiki, should be a close friend of Shinso Hitoshi, the guy with the quirk to brainwash people. The two of them don't seem to like talking to people outside of their limited social circle, which is probably why the both of them sat right at the very back of the class. Onpa don't even have much of a presence in class unless it's English lesson because Onpa's proficiency in the subject immediately made him a favourite of their English teacher, Present Mic. Present Mic kept calling on Onpa to answer the most difficult of questions and he got it right _every single time_.

That is very, very impressive in her book.

"They are at the third floor, west corner of the building. Let's go."

Tsuyu blinked.

What? And **_how_** did he know that?!

Regardless, Tsuyu didn't question too much since her partner doesn't really seem like the talkative type, similar to his usual companion. Maybe that's why they stick together?

Tsuyu wrapped her long tongue around Hibiki's waist to carry him along as she quickly scaled the walls of the building from the outside, pulling him with her as she climbed silently.

"One is right beside the payload on this floor, the other is out scouting on the second floor." Tsuyu heard his whispers to her as she stuck the both of them onto the outside wall of the building of the third floor, right next to an open window. So Ojiro and Mineta shifted the position of the weapon? How did Onpa find that out without even moving?

"He's about twenty feet or so away from our position."

Now Tsuyu is genuinely curious. Does her partner have X-ray vision?

"Can you tell who is it, ribbit?"

"Considering that this guy's footsteps sounded heavier, it probably is Ojiro."

"Okay…" Tsuyu trailed off before asking the big question. "And I supposed you already have a plan…?"

"If you trust me enough to get your back, I will take care of the hostile and cover you while you go straight for the objective. Are you fine with this?"

"Let's do it, ribbit."

The both of them broke through the window and immediately made a quick dash for the objective that is shaped like a huge nuclear missile.

"I won't let… you…"

Tsuyu watched in confusion from where she stuck herself onto the missile. Ojiro Mashirao would have blocked her charge towards the missile if he didn't suddenly wobble and lay on the floor groaning in discomfort.

"What the… Ow… All I'm seeing are stars… Urgh… I feel like I'm going to puke..."

"Sorry about that, the motion sickness should be gone within the next five minutes." Hibiki offered an apologetic hand to an almost incapicitated Ojiro and allows Ojiro to lean on him for support. The announcement from All Might confirmed the swift victory of Tsuyu's team.

Their achieved result might just be the fastest timing yet.

"Onpa? Just what is your quirk? Ribbit."

"Ahh! It's already over?!" Mineta Minoru rushed in from the hallway, a look of clear surprise on his face and cutting off the conversation prematurely. "How did you guys bypass all my traps?! I spent so much time preparing the traps too!"

"We came in from outside. Let's get a move on so that the next team can get ready." Hibiki said without missing a beat as they slowly exited the building while carrying a groaning Ojiro, taking extra caution to avoid Mineta's traps. Ojiro is still unable to walk in a straight line without support, so they decided to just carry him together.

Tsuyu put a finger to her chin as she thought of the possible quirks that her partner might have. She still cannot deduce what is it exactly.

Interesting.

* * *

"Splendid work! Young Onpa! Young Asui! Not only were you two fast and efficient, completing the trial with the shortest time yet, you two also managed to complete the mission with zero injuries and casualties on both sides while also securing the objective! No collateral damage to your surroundings too! An excellent example of a perfect execution and completion of the mission within its parameters!"

All Might heaped praises at two of his students who had just did an outstanding work in completing their assigned mission before turning back to the rest of the class.

"As heroes, all of us here should strive to achieve what your classmates just did! Young Onpa and young Asui! Would you mind sharing how you two achieved such stellar results?"

"Call me Tsu." Tsuyu added before continuing. "And Onpa did most of the planning. He can somehow sense where Ojiro and Mineta were, and then he kind of worked around what I told him my quirk is capable of, ribbit. I still don't know what his quirk does."

Everyone turned to Onpa Hibiki at that statement with a blatantly curious look. All Might gave Onpa a thumbs up and put on the best encouraging look he can plaster on his face. The main reason why he is teaching at U.A. right now may be because of the issue of succession of One for All, but he is now a teacher. As a teacher, he has a duty to read up on the profiles of every single student that he is assigned to teach so he that he can give them the best education.

From what All Might read about Onpa Hibiki's profile, he isn't the most sociable person even if he has the ability to socialise well should he choose to. He was specifically marked by Aizawa for the other teachers to take note in helping to get him to open up more, which is why Present Mic kept on picking on him to answer his questions during English class since Onpa is extremely good in that subject. It was to give him some confidence and slowly get him used to the idea of public speaking. Onpa tends to stick to a small group of people that he is familiar with and not venture out of his comfort zone when it comes to his social circle, which was why Aizawa and Kan separated him and his childhood friend into different classes. It was an attempt to get them to open up and not be over reliant on each other.

The ability to socialise well is also a very important part of being a hero, and it is what the teachers in U.A. is trying to get Onpa to realise on his own.

"My quirk is Sound Wave. I manipulate the very essence of sound." Hibiki gave a watered down explanation of his quirk before pointing to his ears which his earmuffs are protecting. "I also have super hearing, so if I focus hard enough, I can hear Mineta's and Ojiro's footsteps. It was how I determined their relative positions from me and Asui."

All Might noted that Onpa slyly omitted the part of how he knew for certain that the payload was definitely on the third floor instead of the topmost floor like many of his classmates assumed it would be. An inanimate object like the payload doesn't produce footsteps for Onpa to pick out with his super hearing. Onpa certainly did not share with everyone else the full extent of his capabilities.

"Call me Tsu."

"Tsu." Onpa corrected himself immediately upon Asui's reminder.

"Oh, your quirk is like Jiro's quirk then!" Kaminari pounded a fist onto his open palm in realisation.

"Our quirks are similar yet different, but if it makes it easier for you to visualise, then yeah. It more or less works like her quirk."

"Doesn't wearing earmuffs inhibit your hearing instead?" Sero asked curiously.

"I need them to hear properly like a normal person. Everything would be constantly on max volume otherwise."

"That still doesn't explain how you took down Ojiro so easily!" Uraraka said in excitement.

"What I did was a practical application of '_auditorily induced motion sickness_'. I produce a faint humming sound at a frequency that is inaudible for humans. It artificially induces a state of severe motion sickness by messing with your sense of equilibrium that is governed by your inner ear, although I don't think you guys will be interested in all the nitty gritty details."

There was a brief period of silence that fell upon the class.

"I think this is the most I ever heard you speak other than when Mic sensei called you out during English class." Ashido commented.

"You must have studied a lot about the physics behind how sound works to be even capable of doing something like auditorily induced motion sickness." Yaoyorozu spoke up as she watched her classmate in a new light. All Might is surprised that Yaoyorozu even managed to get the terminology right word for word after hearing it for the first time.

"Alright, now that we got this out of the way." All Might directed the attention of his students back on him with a single loud clap of his hands. From the peripheral of his vision, All Might noted that Onpa flinched a little at the sound. Right, super hearing. He should clap softer the next time so as not to hurt his student's ears.

"Let's proceed with the next group! Go Plus Ultra!"

* * *

"I thought I ended my battle fast enough. Then there's _you_." I spoke to Shinso the moment he came back from his Battle Trial from where I stood at the back of the room, leaning against the wall. Shinso detached the Artificial Vocal Cords from his face before sending me a smug grin, obviously pleased that he had beaten Tsuyu's and my record in the Battle Trial.

Cocky asshole.

"With this baby here, I can brainwash anyone without them realising it." He pointed to the equipment that **_my _**family's company had a hand in designing. "Kaminari really isn't the brightest person in the class, so it helped."

Poor Jiro, having her own teammate turned against her and giving her a nasty shock like that. She's still out cold. Shinso got Kaminari in his grasp so quickly that Tokoyami didn't even have to lift a finger to help during their Battle Trial.

"We shall revel in our victory like the villains we were portraying… in the darkness." Tokoyami, Shinso's partner for the Battle Trial, stated somewhat dramatically with a low voice as he stood in a dark corner of the room, his cloak covering his entire body from view except for his head. He turned to Shinso. "Nice job, by the way. Sorry I wasn't able to be of much help."

"It's fine. I got lucky, that's all. I would have to count on you to bail me out if my quirk failed to get Kaminari."

"Woah! Todoroki's so strong!"

"Wait, his battle ended? I thought it only just started?"

"Huh, guess there's somebody else who beat us both in completing the mission in the shortest amount of time." Shinso said thoughtfully as our attention are now trained on the screen after the outbursts of disbelief our class is now making. From the screen in the observation room, we can see that the entire building is now frozen in a layer of ice, including the opposing villain team.

"I heard that his father is Endeavour. I was half expecting him to spew fire from his mouth like a pokemon, not freeze everything with a wave of his hand." Shinso stated as the three of us formed a line and leaned comfortably against the wall at the back of the room, comfortably spectating what is currently going on at Ground Beta.

"He is melting the ice using his other hand." I pointed out as Todoroki melted the ice to free the opposing villain team with his left hand. "That's definitely not what an ice quirk can do."

"So he can freeze _and _burn? Some people really do have it all." Shinso muttered bitterly.

"When he turned everything into ice, he was using his right hand." Tokoyami added. "And since like what Onpa said, that Todoroki used his left hand to melt the ice, we can assume that each of his hand holds a different power."

"Heh." Shinso let out a soft mocking laugh from his throat. "No wonder he is acting so high and mighty all the time. If I was born with a quirk like that, I might have acted in the same way too. How is anyone going to beat that kind of power?"

"Your quirk is overpowered in its own right. Don't put yourself down." I reminded Shinso before he starts to get salty. "Besides, we are classmates."

"As if high and mighty over there treated us like his classmates. He sits right next to us in class and he doesn't even bother to say a single hello. Even _we _spoke more than him in class, with the correct _manners_. I have nothing against Todoroki, but it's like he is looking down at us from above, sitting on his shining golden pedestal."

And somehow, I can't find myself to argue with Shinso. Todoroki did give us that kind of feeling whenever he is around us. I am aware of Todoroki's existence due to whatever little foreknowledge I retained from my previous life, but that's it. I had forgotten entirely what his quirk is, much less how he is as a person.

"Shinso has a point." Tokoyami conceded. "The both of you simply don't like to talk much, but Todoroki is just plain cold and stand-offish."

"I saw Todoroki when I was taking the entrance exam as a recommended applicant." Shinso added. "His gaze felt like he could care less what happened to those around him. Those are not the eyes of a hero. There was a friendly guy who tried to befriend him and he just brushed him off rudely. That's saying something because this is coming from **_me_**."

"Yes, because you are Mr Polite." I answered sarcastically while rolling my eyes.

"All it takes is a _slip _of the hand." Shinso let his bracelets crackle with electricity as he held it up in front of my face while 'inspecting' it.

"Please, you can't even touch me even if you tried." I taunted.

"Oh? Shall we put that to the test?"

We clammed up when Todoroki reentered the observation room with three other classmates entering behind him right at that moment. As usual, All Might summarised what went right and wrong during their mock battle, although there was really nothing much he can comment on since Todoroki ended it in a few seconds.

"See what I mean?" Shinso hissed in my ear when Todoroki didn't even bother replying to All Might's praise, not even a thank you, even if it is out of simple courtesy. "That guy doesn't sees us as his equal, much less as his classmates. He's in his own little world."

As much as I hate to admit it, Shinso is right. This Battle Trial session also reaffirmed my belief once more.

My classmates really are a bunch of weirdos.

* * *

"Hey, isn't that Midoriya and All Might?" Shinso whispered after he suddenly pulled Yui and I to hide behind a corner. School had finally ended for the day and we were about to make our way home together.

"A little warning next time?" I grumbled, but turned to look where he is pointing at somewhere near the school's gate. "Oh, look, Bakugo too. Wait, is he _crying?"_

"Never thought I would live to see the day, even if I only knew him for _two _days." Shinso quipped with a roll of his eyes.

Bakugo had walked off moodily and All Might is now lecturing Midoriya about something. I used my quirk to eavesdrop a little to hear what they are talking about.

_"-you cannot just **blurt **out the secret of One for All-"_

Oops. I stumbled onto something confidential again. Time to focus my hearing elsewhere.

All Might left soon enough, disappearing in a trail of smoke and wind. It is then that the three of us make our appearance.

"Hey, Midoriya."

"O-Oh! Shinso-san! Onpa-san! And, uh…"

"Kodai Yui. I'm from Class 1-B."

"Kodai-san!" Midoriya said nervously with chattering teeth and stiff limbs as he stood straighter than a bamboo. Why is he always so uptight and nervous?

"Your arms okay? Haven't seen you in class ever since Foundational Hero Studies class ended." Shinso asked in concern. His face _would _have looked like one of concern if he stops sporting such an evil looking expression all the time.

"I'm alright now! Recovery Girl healed me!" Midoriya assured us by giving us a thumbs up with his left hand. His right arm, the one which he used to punch a huge hole in the building during the Battle Trial earlier, is still hanging limply in a sling.

"I heard from Hibiki that you are the one who breaks his limb whenever you use your quirk. I see that the rumours are true."

_Way to go, Yui. _Way to make a good first impression while implicating me in the process.

"A-Ah, Ahahaha…" Midoriya laughed awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head with his working hand in nervousness. My mind wandered to the two instances in which I had seen him use his quirk so far. Technically, Midoriya did not _need _to use that much strength and power to complete his assigned tasks, but he still did it anyway. It's like what Aizawa-sensei said. Midoriya has no control over his quirk.

Kind of reminded me of the problems I had with my quirk when it first manifested. Those were dark times.

Actually…

"Hey, Midoriya, were you using your full strength when you use your quirk? Like, 100%?" I asked curiously. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am right about something when it comes to how Midoriya uses his quirk. Now that I think about it, what I had gone through when trying to control my uncontrollable quirk as an inexperienced child are just too eerily similar to what Midoriya had displayed thus far.

Maybe I can help him out a little if I share my experiences with him? If not for his own benefit, then at least for me. I really do not want to hear that disgusting sound of breaking bones again if I can help it. Two times is enough for me. I don't want to hear the sound of breaking bones _every single day_ for the next few months, assuming that Midoriya actually has the skill to get his quirk under control so quickly.

"Uh, yes?" Midoriya answered meekly, his body instinctively curling up onto itself. His lack of self-confidence is painfully obvious.

"I heard that there were only two people who destroyed a zero pointer in the entrance exams. You were the one who destroyed the zero pointer with a single punch, right? I was the other one." I said and I watched in amusement when Midoriya's jaws dropped immediately. "This was what I did."

Without warning, I shot a Sonic Bullet at Shinso using 2% output. It knocked him off his feet and made him landed on his ass.

Good.

"You are **_dead_**, Hibiki."

I simply ignored Shinso's threats.

"This move is called Sonic Bullet. At 100% output, it can easily destroy a zero pointer, but it will leave me weak and defenceless." I explained without paying Shinso any mind. He is all bark and no bite. "But the one I shot at Shinso just now was only at 2% output, just enough to knock someone off their feet without injuring them. Useful if I want to do a non-lethal takedown or to simply catch my foes off guard, not that useful if I want to take down a zero pointer. The vice versa applies."

I can see the figurative gears in Midoriya's head starting to turn.

"Think about it this way, if I only need 2% to defeat Shinso-"

"Like you can defeat me like that."

"-why would I need to use 100% and waste all the excess 98%? I should just use _only_ 2% and leave it at that. Nothing more, nothing less. I can conserve my strength in case I need them later. It's like running a marathon. No one would run at 100% speed right off the bat. To even last till the end of the marathon, most people would probably keep a pace of about… _maybe_ 50% to 70% of their max speed throughout the entire race."

"You mean-" Midoriya eyes widened.

"What I'm saying." I reiterated. "Is that for you to stop breaking your poor bones on a daily basis, maybe you need to learn how to tone down your power output. _Learn how to pace yourself._ Stop using 100% of your power every time you use your quirk. It was the first mistake I made when my quirk first manifested and I can say from experience that the kickbacks are not pleasant. Start from the lowest output you can manage, then work up from there to find your current limits that you can go without breaking your body. At least, that's what I did to learn how to control my own quirk. You are smart. I think you can work something out on your own from here. You are a genius of hard work, remember?"

Having said my piece, I patted on Midoriya's shoulder in what I think is an encouraging manner before walking off, whose mind is still working at a mile per minute as he processed my words. That is all the help I can give him based on what I can impart to him to stop breaking his bones. Whether he sinks or swims from here is all on him now.

"Do that to me _one more time_, you are going to get it from me." Shinso threatened as he caught up to Yui and I.

"Who else could I have demonstrated it on? Not on Yui, because I am a gentleman, and definitely not on Midoriya, that poor bloke is already heavily injured as it is. That leaves only you. Come on, a little sacrifice to help a fellow classmate is greatly appreciated. You are a hero in training, remember? Act like one."

"_A little sacrifice?_ I will **_show _**you a sacrifice-"

"ONPA-SAN!"

Midoriya's shout got our attention as we looked back at where he is standing near the school's gate under the light of the setting sun. His face is bright, and I'm sure he had just hit on some brilliant idea after hearing what I told him.

"T-Thank you!"

"You're welcome. Just do me a favour and don't break any more bones. I hate that sound." Upon seeing his confused looks, I was reminded that he wasn't made known of my super hearing when I was explaining my quirk to the entire class. He was with Recovery Girl after his fight with Bakugo.

"Super hearing." I pointed to my ears as I walked off after waving him goodbye. He can figure out the rest on his own.

"It's rare for you to do something like this. You only knew him for two days." Yui said to me when we can no longer see the school gate behind us. "Did you hear something when All Might was talking to Midoriya earlier?"

Of course, only Yui could read me like an open book. She knows me too well.

"Maybe." I replied with a vague answer.

"So there _is_ a secret between All Might and Midoriya? Maybe Midoriya is All Might's secret love child or something? Their quirks are more or less the same."

"You mean like how you are Aizawa-sensei's love child?"

"Hibiki. Say that _one more time-_"

"Hey, Yui." I pointed a finger at Shinso while facing Yui. "Meet **_Aizawa _**Hitoshi. **_Aizawa _**Hitoshi, meet Yui."

Yui is obviously trying her best to suppress her laughter from what I can tell from the slight trembling of her shoulders. She must have also spotted the similarities between Shinso and my homeroom teacher.

I dodged the silent swipe Shinso made at my head. Years of experimenting with my super hearing had allowed me to 'hear' things even before I could even sense them with my other senses. It's almost like having a sixth sense to warn you if something is about to hit you. Maybe I should call it the spider-sense? The peter tingle?

"I will tell Hoshi to unfriend you on instagram if you keep this up, _Aizawa_."

Whatever Shinso wanted to say, I wouldn't know. I had already muted him with my quirk. I'm not stupid enough to give him a chance to brainwash me when he's currently mad enough to use his quirk on me.

Ah, the simple joys of high school life. How I missed you.


	9. Chapter 9- Calm Before the Storm

My third day of school did not start with my daily dose of coffee.

It started with a throng of reporters outside U.A. school gate, obstructing our way to school.

_"What is it like learning from All Might?!"_

_"What does the symbol of peace look like in front of the class?!"_

_"Is All Might a good teacher?!"_

And so on and so forth.

The noises the reporters are making is giving me a headache. I can tell that Yui does not appreciate it too, so I used my quirk to suddenly mute all of them and both of us quickly escaped into the school compound during the confusion.

And then I went to get my daily dose of coffee.

"If becoming a famous hero means dealing with **_that_**." I grumbled to Yui as we queued at the drinks stall for me to get my coffee. "Then I can understand why Aizawa-sensei became an underground hero."

"Don't exaggerate. You will do fine even under the spotlight of the media." Yui spoke up.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I thought you and Nejire-san are going to open a hero office together? Just leave it to her. She seems to enjoy soaking up the attention."

"Are you serious? She will ruin the interviews given how she usually acts. She will be the ones asking the reporters questions instead." I shuddered at the thought, and checked my phone when it suddenly buzzed. Someone had sent me a message.

"Shinso wants a cup of coffee too. Should I poison it?"

"Hibiki."

"Just once, Yui. Just once. He brainwashed me to do a tapdance at the bus stop yesterday, he deserves it."

Yui simply gave me a disapproving stare, so I changed the topic.

I soon got the two cups of coffee I need. Seeing as it is still early, we slowly climbed the stairs as I continue talking.

"Shinso says he wants more practice in hand-to-hand combat after school today. We even booked a training field to do so. Want to come?"

"Yui-chan!"

Someone called after Yui as we climbed the stairs, interrupting our conversation. A girl with long ginger hair tied to the side of her head ran towards us in an energetic manner. Considering that it is only the first week of school, I'm surprised that Yui actually allowed this person to address her by her first name. From what Yui told me about her class thus far, there's only one person that came to my mind that fits the description.

"Hello! Name's Kendo Itsuka! What's your name? How did you know Yui?"

"Onpa Hibiki, I'm from Class 1-A. I heard about you from Yui. We are childhood friends." I greeted and shook her hand when she offered hers. Like I suspected, this is the Kendo Itsuka that Yui had told me about. They are desk mates from what Yui had told me.

I'm just glad that Yui managed to make friends on her own. She seems to have a lot of trust in Kendo, so she must have done something to earn that trust from Yui.

"Oh! You are that Onpa Hibiki that Yui keeps talking about!" Kendo clapped her hands together in realisation. "You heard about me from her? Good things, I hope!"

"You are something else if she allows you to address her by her given name. Not many earned that privilege." I said with a laugh as the three of us slowly climbed up the stairs. Yui has a small smile on her face at having Kendo join us. She must be really fond of Kendo for that to happen. "How's class for you so far?"

"Kan-sensei is nice." Kendo nodded in thought. "Although it's a shame we don't have All Might as our Foundational Hero Studies teacher like you guys do. How is he as a teacher anyway?"

"He uses a cheatsheet to teach." I deadpanned. "He literally read it off while teaching and brings about a book titled 'How to be a good teacher' around in his back pocket. Not exactly a very reassuring sight."

Kendo burst out laughing.

"Not something I expected from the No. 1 hero, but thanks for the info! Now I don't feel so bad not having him teaching my class!"

"All Might is fine, but he obviously has no experience in teaching. He is still learning the ropes."

We were just outside Class 1-B when Bomberman's voice resonated across the corridor.

"YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU SO BADLY, FROG FACE?!"

I facepalmed. What a great way to leave an impression on our schoolmates next door.

"Your classmate is… energetic."

"You are too kind, Kendo. You are more than welcomed to just say that he is a vulgar asshole."

"Won't hearing something of this volume constantly hurt your ears?" Yui asked as she frowned a little in concern.

"I dampen the sound around me whenever he becomes like this, although at this rate I'm considering the option of muting him for good." I muttered darkly. The thought of muting Bakugo gets more and more tempting as time passes. That guy has no idea how hurtful his voice could be to my ears in that small classroom.

"If you cannot stand being around him, then why don't you just stick around in our class a little until the first period starts?" Kendo suggested as she opened the door to Class 1-B. "Come on in, we don't bite."

She has a point. Why not?

"I'll take you up on the offer then." I smiled back as I entered Class 1-B with Kendo, already putting on my socialising mask and ready for one round of social interaction. Hopefully, this wouldn't be too mentally draining for me.

My first impression of Class 1-B is that this class is a lot more normal than my class. It actually feels like a class that I expect from a _normal _high school.

"Kendo, got a boyfriend already? It's only the third day of school!" A buff guy with steel grey hair hollered with a large grin on his face.

"Wait, what?! WHO managed to score Kendo?"

"Hey, I won the bet! Now pay up!"

"Dammit Kendo! You work too fast!"

"He's Yui's, you idiot!" Kendo yelled in exasperation.

"_Kodai_ has a boyfriend?"

"DAMMIT!"

"_Childhood friend._" I deadpanned before giving a dramatic low bow to introduce myself. "Onpa Hibiki. I'm from Class 1-A. Sorry for the intrusion."

"Oh, the class next door!" A spiky haired guy with a bandanna said as he immediately grabbed my hand and shook it warmly. "I'm Awase Yosetsu! Welcome to our class!"

"I'm Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!" The buff guy with grey hair introduced himself from where he is sitting on a chair.

"Tokage Setsuna!" A slim girl with dark green hair waved her hand at us while giving me a wide smile. "I have to say, Kodai sure has great taste in men! Good job, Yui!"

"Tokage…" Yui sighed as she rested a palm on her forehead.

"I'm flattered." I drawled. "I'm sure I can introduce you to the guys from my class if you ever want to meet them, Tokage-san. How about Todoroki?"

"Ooh! I like this one!"

"Honenuki Juzo." A guy with beige coloured hair and teeth growing on the outside of the skin on his face introduced himself. "Nice to meet you. If you don't mind me asking, why are you wearing earmuffs? It's not even winter yet."

"Ah, I have super hearing, which also means I am sensitive to loud noises." My hand unconsciously went up to touch my trusty earmuffs at that remark. "Coincidentally, this is why I am currently taking refuge in your classroom, because-"

"I WILL FUCKING RIP YOU INTO TWO!"

"-that." I sighed. Even from here next door, we can all still hear Bakugo loud and clear.

"Must be hard for you." Awase sympathised with me as he patted me on the back. "But hey! You are more than welcomed to join us anytime! We sure don't mind a nice guy like you joining our class! Maybe we can ask Kan-sensei to transfer you here?"

"And then maybe kick Monoma out?" Someone else suggested jokingly.

"Who's talking about me?"

A guy with slick blonde hair that is parted to his left and sporting a rather contemptuous look on his face entered the classroom at that same time. His eyes immediately spotted me.

"And this is…?"

"Onpa Hibiki, from Class 1-A." I offered my hand to him, but he didn't take it.

"Oh, Class 1-A? Aren't you guys supposed to be the _superior _class? What are you doing-"

**_SMACK!_**

"Sorry about that." Kendo apologised and caught who I assumed is Monoma after she neck chopped him from behind right after Monoma opened his mouth. "He's always like this the moment anyone mentioned your class. I think he is jealous that your class seem to get all the attention. I mean, your class got_ All Might_ teaching you."

"He can swap classes with me if he wants. I honestly wouldn't mind." I shrugged. "Sure, teachers are important, but in the end what matters most is your own hardwork and effort."

"Now THAT'S the spirit!" Tetsutetsu flexed his arms as he boomed out his agreement to my statement.

"You are the guy who destroyed the zero pointer, aren't you?" A guy with short brown hair and oval-shaped eyes pointed at me with a finger. "I think I remembered seeing you at Location B."

"That's me." I nodded in affirmation.

"Woah! How you do that?!" Tetsutetsu immediately got in front of me with the expression of an eager puppy. "That's cool!"

"I had help." I admitted. "The zero pointer was chasing after me and another two people who ended up being my classmates too. We all thought that we might fail because we spent the last three minutes of the practical running for our lives instead of trying to score villain points."

"So this is where you are." Shinso made his appearance as he waltzed into Class 1-B and interrupted our conversation. He greeted Yui before turning back to talk to me.

"Hey, Hibiki, you got my coffee?"

"Here." I passed one cup to Shinso, who accepted it. Shinso eyed the rest of the people from Class 1-B with an appraising look.

"I have no idea you switched classes."

"I wish." I snorted. "I'm just here to escape from Bakugo's screaming."

"Had he stopped yet?" Yui asked curiously. Bakugo's screams couldn't be heard in Class 1-B's classroom anymore, but she isn't sure if someone finally pressed the pause button for Bakugo. However, I could still hear Bakugo cursing up a storm with my ears. The noise is just being confined to my classroom for now.

"Knowing him? I doubt it." Shinso quickly made himself comfortable in Class 1-B and sat down on an empty table in a relaxed manner, acting like he was a part of Class 1-B all along. "Actually, I quite like the idea of chilling here until the first period starts. Nice thinking, Hibiki."

"It was Kendo's idea." I introduced Shinso to Kendo, who immediately greeted Shinso with a warm hello.

"We may be friends now, but if there are ever interclass competitions, you can be sure that we are going to beat you down into the ground!" Tetsutetsu challenged with a raised fist. "I'm gonna beat you, Onpa!"

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Shinso spoke lazily, but no one paid him any mind.

"Sure." I smirked back at Tetsutetsu. "We might have the chance to fight each other when the U.A. Sports Festival comes around. Just don't cry when I'm done with you."

"Wooo! The tension!" Tokage cheered. "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Pony? What's wrong?" Yui, who is standing by my side all along, turned her head to face another person and asked in concern. I turned my head to see who she is talking to and spotted a short girl with long wavy blonde hair acting in a timid manner at the edge of the group.

"K-Kodai! N-Nothing! It's just… erm…"

"Go for it, Pony!"

"You can do it!"

I have no idea what they are cheering the girl on for, so I just smile and try to look friendly.

"If you don't feel comfortable speaking to Hibiki in Japanese, just use English. Hibiki's English is very good." Yui spoke to Pony encouragingly, who visibly brightened up after that statement.

"Really?"

"Hello there, my name is Onpa Hibiki." I spoke in fluent English as I introduced myself to the girl Yui had spoken to. She has the look of a foreigner, which might explain the reason why Yui told her to just speak in English instead of Japanese.

"My name is Pony Tsunotori!" Pony introduced herself in perfect English immediately, and I noted the way she placed her family name behind her given name in her speech, which is different from how Japanese put their family name before their given name. "This is so fun! There's finally someone else who can speak with me in English!"

"That accent, you are from the States?" I asked curiously.

"New York!" She said enthusiastically. "You've been there before?"

"I'm afraid not, but I will let you know if I ever go there."

Awase whistled in surprise.

"Finally someone who can totally understand Pony. Man, your English is _impressive_, Onpa."

"I listen to a lot of English songs since young. I guess that helped improve my fluency in the language." I replied Awase in perfect Japanese. "Many things in life are just a matter of practice."

"Hate to break things up, but first period is starting soon." Shinso cut in and gestured with his head towards the door. "We need to leave soon, Hibiki."

"You two are more than welcome to visit us whenever!" Kendo waved happily at the two of us, an unconscious Monoma dumped into an empty seat nearby. "We are fellow schoolmates after all!"

"We'll take you up on the offer." Shinso replied in his usual dry voice. "Even I don't want to go near Bakugo unless I have to."

That earned a round of laughter from everyone, and I really cannot help but marvel just _how_ Bakugo became notorious without meaning to. Even those in our neighbouring class knew about his existence in just the first three days of school.

"See you after school, Yui." I told her as I turned to leave the classroom.

"Mm. See you after school."

* * *

"Psst."

"What?" I turned to look at Shinso, who had hissed at me to get my attention.

"Who are you voting to be class president?"

"I dunno. Do you want to be pres? Cos I sure as hell don't want to be stuck with that position. I can give you my vote if you want."

"For real?" Shinso asked in disbelief. "I was about to give you my vote too."

"For what?" I retorted. "I thought you would want to be class pres."

"Being in the centre of attention is not for me." Shinso said before pointing at me with his pencil. "You should be class pres though, then the first order of business will be to pass a mandate to get Bakugo to shut up. You will be doing everyone a favour."

I paused in my words to think through what Shinso just said. That sounds _tempting_.

"Nah." I decided against it. "It's not like Bakugo will listen anyway."

"Hey, loverboy."

"**_Don't_** call me that-"

* * *

"You _brainwashed _me." I hissed at Shinso when I finally regained my senses. Right on the board were the tally of results of the votes. This was the sight that greeted me when Shinso finally released his hold on me.

Shinso gave a slow and dramatic shrug of his shoulders that totally conveyed the '_what-can-you-do_' vibe perfectly. I know his quirk doesn't allow him to control his victims to do actions that requires advanced brain functions like _writing a name_, for example, so he must have written it for me on my own piece of voting slip while I was under his control.

That asshole.

Thus, right now, our class is stuck in a dilemma. Midoriya has three votes, which automatically makes him the biggest winner. However, Yaoyorozu and I are tied with two votes each.

"This is quite a sticky situation." Sero commented. "How are we going to resolve this?"

"I withdraw." I spoke up without hesitation, and I can tell that my action had surprised Shinso from the looks he is giving me. "Shinso brainwashed me to vote for myself, so this doesn't count."

"Eh?" Kirishima asked in visible confusion, and I can see that his confusion is shared with everybody else.

"I don't want to be class pres or vice pres or anything. Too troublesome." I clarified. "Yaoyorozu can be the vice pres."

"So who are you voting?" Tokoyami questioned.

"Then give your vote to me, you extra!" Bakugo yelled out. "Like hell I would let Deku be the class pres!"

"I actually wanted to vote for Yaoyorozu." I mused out loud and totally ignored Bakugo. "But that would make her tie with Midoriya at three votes, which won't help to resolve the situation. What a pain."

"That's why you vote for **_ME!_** Earmuff face!"

"No, vote for me!"

"ME!"

Everyone is now clamoring to get my vote, something that I wasn't expecting. I shot Shinso a dirty look, who is now looking outside the window and pretending that this has nothing to do with him. It's his damn fault that I got myself into this situation.

"I _forfeit _my vote. Happy now?"

There was a collective _'awww' _from the class as everyone sagged in their seats. With this arrangement, I won't be offending anyone while helping to get this over and done with as soon as possible.

Shinso though, I will have words with him later for brainwashing me like that. Or maybe I should just prank him later.

"You really could have made a good class rep though." Shinso said after our class had finalised who will be our class president and vice president. "You are strong, you can be charismatic, and you have confidence in spades. Even Best Jeanist said so. You have what it takes to be a leader of heroes and yet you don't want to be class pres? You need to get your brain checked."

"Last I checked, my brain got brainwashed." I snarked back. "Seriously, I know you mean well, but stop doing things like this behind my back, okay?"

Shinso had an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry."

"Just treat me to coffee tomorrow."

"I'll be sure to add no sugar and no milk to your coffee, make it as bitter as my soul."

"Asshole."

* * *

"Ehhh?! _You declined the chance to be vice pres?!_"

"Nejire-nee." I groaned as I inched my head away from my cousin. "Too loud."

"But Biki! _VICE PRES!_"

It is lunch break right now, and my cousin had met up with me and Shinso for lunch although she will have to leave school right after this to go for her work study at Ryukyu's agency. Yui is eating with her classmates. I'm happy for her. I was initially worried that she would have trouble making friends in her new class but from the looks of it, maybe I don't need to worry myself about Yui after all.

"That's what I told him." Shinso said between bites of his food. "And then the idiot went and withdrew himself from the competition and forfeited his vote."

"Biki~ WHY?!"

"Because it's troublesome? Because it's a thankless job? Because I don't want to? Because _why _should I?" I listed out my reasons as I enjoyed my meal. Lunch Rush's food is just that good. "I'm worried about having Midoriya as our class pres though. He lacks so much confidence that I'm starting to think that he cannot lead our class well. He stutters too much. It makes other people look down on our class if our representative acts like that all the time."

"Is Midoriya the other guy who destroyed the zero pointer? The one who broke his limbs to do so?" Nejire asked curiously.

"Broke his finger on the first day of school and then his arm on the second day of school. I can still remember the sound of his bones breaking. Makes me wonder what he will break today." I complained as I took a sip of my drink. "He needs some serious help. God forbids if he broke his bones _again _today. That sound is going to give me nightmares."

"Oh, we have Foundational Heroes Studies after lunch, right?" Shinso asked. "Any idea what it would be?"

"Aizawa-sensei didn't say a thing." I added. "But I did hear him muttering about needing to book a bus yesterday for today's lesson. It probably is for today's Foundational Heroes Studies."

"That means that you guys will most likely head for the USJ." Nejire deduced. "The first week of school is mainly to introduce the freshmen to all of the important facilities that you guys will be using for the next three years, and if you need a bus on the first week, chances are that it is for the USJ. That means it's Rescue Training for all of you! How fun!"

"Huh, Yui will certainly have fun with that one." I said.

"My quirk is essentially useless in such situations. This is going to be a drag." Shinso sighed out loud.

"Cheer up, Shinso! Res-"

**_SCREEEEEEE_**

"An alarm?" I raised my head as I looked around. Already, there are many students who are also looking around in confusion. Some of them are already panicking.

_"Security level 3 has been broken. All students, please evacuate in an orderly fashion."_

"This is bad." Nejire frowned as the canteen suddenly erupted in a mass panic. Nejire quickly dragged us into a corner to escape the stampede, but trapping us in a corner as a result. It's still way better than getting trampled upon within all the crowd. "Security level 3 means that someone has infiltrated the building. This situation is also a first for me."

"Who is bold and stupid enough to do that?" Shinso grumbled. "This is U.A."

"You'd be surprised at the number of idiots walking around the planet." I replied as we chose to remain in our corner, because we couldn't move anyway with everyone shoving and pushing in the mad rush towards the emergency exit. There is already a bottleneck there.

"You know, I expected the people here to exit in a more orderly fashion, cos, y'know, _this is **U.A.**_" Shinso drawled, not a hint of urgency or panic in his voice. In fact, none of us are too bothered by the sight in front of us. Panicking is the very last thing you should do in an emergency because it solves nothing. It's always better to keep a clear head.

"The teachers should have this handled." Nejire said in thought and gestured to the low ceiling above our heads. "Not like there's anything we can do right now since we are stuck here. I couldn't even fly even if I wanted to because of how cramped the place is."

"Oi, that's Iida, isn't it?"

My gaze followed to where Shinso is pointing at and true to his words, I see Iida floating in the air above the crowd, far away from where we currently are. That got to be Uraraka's handiwork.

"He got a quirk that helps him float like me?" Nejire asked in excitement. "What quirk is it? Hey, Biki, what quirk is it?"

"It's not his-"

My words died in my mouth when I saw Iida propelling himself towards the emergency exit before sticking himself right on top of the exit sign in the most bizarre way.

**"EVERYTHING'S FINE!"**

Huh?

"It's just the press! There's nothing to panic about! We are fine! This is U.A.! Behave in a way befitting this great institution!"

_I see. Good going, Iida._

"That is something you two should learn." Nejire pointed at Iida as the canteen quietened significantly after his speech. "What he did was a textbook example of how to quickly calm a mass of panicked people. Short and concise. It's a very effective way if done right."

"And why aren't you doing it?" I questioned.

"Trust me, if it was a villain attack, we would have been in a huge fight at least three minutes ago right after the alarm sounded. Since nothing like that happened, it probably wasn't anything serious. And like what Shinso and your spectacled friend said, _this is **U.A.**_" Nejire emphasised. "I can understand if people from the support and general courses are panicking, but many of us here are hero-in-training as well. If even **_they _**panic in such a situation, then they should quit being heroes. I even spotted some second and even third years from the hero course adding onto the panic earlier. What a shame."

"Wise words. As expected of a Big Three." Shinso rolled his eyes, which earned him a slap to the back of his head by Nejire.

"Isn't the press getting a little too bold?" I asked as the crowd finally starts to disperse, giving us the chance to finally get out of our corner and walk back to our table to finish our meal from earlier. "They infiltrated a school. For what purpose?"

"Obviously it's because of All Might." Nejire said immediately. "The No. 1 hero suddenly joining U.A. as a teacher? Of course the press will be curious. They were camping outside the school gates earlier this morning, weren't they?"

"His life must be full of inconveniences, with the press following him everywhere he goes." I said as part of my heart truly goes out to All Might in pity. What a tiring lifestyle to live by.

"I'm more interested in how the press got past the gates in the first place. The gates are designed to keep out even villains. What do you think, Biki?" Nejire stated in curiosity as we sat back at our seats as if nothing had happened.

"If even _you _don't have a clue, I wouldn't have any either."

"How likely is it that someone from the press possess a quirk that can get past the school's security system?" Shinso asked my cousin.

"Not impossible, but hypothetically, this person would have a much better career prospect as a hero or in other jobs if he does have such a quirk. U.A.'s security system is not easy to bypass unless your quirk is born for the sole purpose of infiltration. I really don't think anyone from the press could have infiltrated the school, but I could be wrong."

"Suddenly everything sounds much more sinister." I spoke as I finally completed my meal. "If not the press, then who?"


	10. Chapter 10- USJ

"Your quirk resembles All Might."

I cannot help but try to hide my snigger upon hearing that.

Oh _daammmmn _son, guess Midoriya's display is not as discreet as he thinks it is. Asui- no, _Tsuyu _already got his quirk somewhat figured out from the looks of things.

Predictably, Midoriya got all flustered and tried to deny all such accusations until Kirishima came in and saved the day.

"But that sort of simple strength-enhancing quirk is awesome! You can do a lot of cool stuff with it!" Kirishima then proceeded to harden his left arm. "Not like my hardening. I'm good in a fight, but it's real boring."

"Your quirk saved our lives from the zero pointer." I helpfully reminded Kirishima from where Jiro and I are seated somewhere nearer to the back of the bus. Jiro already had one of her earphone jack already plugged into her phone to listen to music. Talk about convenient.

"_Yours_ destroyed the zero pointer." Jiro raised an eyebrow at me for that remark, which I dismissed with an awkward laugh.

"WAIT, WHAT?! Earmuff face did-"

_"Moving on." _I pushed the conversation forward as I secretly muted Bakugo before he can go on and on about who is better and who will be the No. 1 Hero. I can already see Shinso giving me a secret thumbs up for the silencing, which I secretly returned with an 'ok' sign. It's only the third day of school, but we are already _sick _of all his yelling.

"A zero pointer…" Uraraka had the look of a goldfish on her face at the statement.

"No way I could have pulled it off if it wasn't for Kirishima and Jiro there helping me." I tried to play it off and direct their attention to somewhere else, but I have a feeling it would be a lost cause by now. The very last thing I need is for someone like _Bakugo _to declare me as his _Eternal Rival_. It would be better for my sanity if he writes me off as a non-threat.

"Bakugo's and Todoroki's quirk are strong and cool, and so is Onpa if he really did destroy a zero pointer somehow with sound alone. But Bakugo is so unhinged, he'd never be popular."

Predictably, Explodiboy erupted once more, making threatening gestures and his mouth opening and closing at a rapid speed. However, nobody could hear what he is saying because I muted any sound coming from him.

"Is it just me, or is Bakugo…"

"He's not making a sound." Yaoyorozu stated with certainty before her gaze travelled to me, which I answered with a small casual shrug without giving anything away.

"A silent Bakugo! Our prayers had been answered!" Denki cried out comically, which got everyone laughing at the statement. Sero, who is sitting beside Bakugo, had to physically restrain him when the King of Explosions witnessed that.

"We're here. Look sharp now."

The voice of our homeroom teacher got us snapping back to attention once more. It didn't take us long to exit the bus in an orderly manner and I undo the muting I imposed on Bakugo when I saw that he's no longer trying to scream his lungs out.

"-fucking stupid- wait, I can speak now?" Bakugo had a brief look of confusion on his face before his face turned satanic once more. "ALRIGHT, FESS UP! WHICH IDIOT SILENCED ME, HUH?! I WILL FUCKING KILL-"

"And he got muted again!"

At least half the class cheered when I decided that Bakugo's voice is way too loud to be comfortable for my ears. I can see a few of the smarter ones who had already somewhat figured out who was behind this phenomenon looking in my direction, which I pretended to not notice.

"I knew I like you for a reason." Shinso whispered to me as he gently bumped my shoulder with his. "You should have done this on the first day of school."

Bakugo is no idiot, however, and he is already stomping in my direction after putting two and two together.

**_"Behave yourselves."_** I was saved when Aizawa caught a struggling Bakugo in his capture tape as he continued to scream silently while making menacing gestures in my direction. Shinso further antagonised Bakugo by cupping one of his hands over his ear and leaned his body closer towards Bakugo.

"Speak louder, Bomberman, we can't hear you."

_"Shinso."_

"Sorry, sensei." Shinso replied with a large grin that tells us that he is _not _the least bit apologetic for it. "Can't help it."

"And Onpa, undo whatever you did on Bakugo. Bakugo, behave yourself or _I'll make you._"

Reluctantly, I undo the silencing I did on Bakugo.

"Fucking blue hair." Bakugo gritted out the moment his voice could be heard once more. "I'll kill you later."

"Yeah, you can try." I snorted. I don't care if he's the protagonist or not. Right now, Explodiboy here is just a spoiled brat that is striking all the wrong nerves and hitting on all the wrong buttons.

I'm no saint like Midoriya or All Might. Push me too far and I will bite back too.

**_"Bakugo."_**

"Tch." Bakugo clicked his tongue and reluctantly stayed his hand upon Aizawa's warning.

Without further fanfare, Aizawa brought us into the USJ. The first thought that came to my mind upon seeing everything there was that I'm _impressed_.

Flood Zone, Landslide Zone, Conflagration Zone, Mountain Zone, Downpour Zone, Ruins Zone. So many types of disaster scenario with an excruciating amount of details put into it to make it incredibly lifelike, so that U.A.'s heroes-in-training can get the best possible education that they can receive here.

Yui would be jumping for joy when she finally had her first lesson here, no doubt about it.

Furthermore, one of her idols, Thirteen, is personally conducting today's lesson. Scratch that, Yui wouldn't just be jumping for joy, she would be _falling in love_ with every lesson conducted in the USJ.

As expected of a Pro Hero, Thirteen gave a very good speech on how quirks, no matter how destructive or villainous they may seem, are not powers meant to inflict harm, but rather born for the sake of helping people. To be able to uplift the mood of people with the power of words, that is also an aspect that a hero must have. Thirteen definitely did a splendid execution of that.

I wonder if I would ever get to that point someday?

"For some reason, Thirteen's words just get you all fired up, eh?" Shinso said as he clapped his hands alongside the rest of the class when Thirteen ended her speech.

"Unlike you."

"Like you can do any better."

"Want to bet?"

"On what?"

I never completed my sentence for at that moment, a big black hole materialised out of nowhere and from it emerged a guy with hands stuck to almost every part of his body. A part of me whispered to me that those are real hands, a part of me argued that those hands must be fakes.

There is also another part of me that just screams at me to quickly go into fight-or-flight mode. Unlike the more naive ones in my class, Shinso and I aren't slow on the uptake.

"Shinso."

"I know." Was the reply I heard together with the clicking sound of him putting his Artificial Vocal Cords properly in place over the lower half of his face. His electric bracelets are already turned on and sparking with electricity while I can audibly hear my heartbeat getting increasingly faster.

So it really wasn't the press who infiltrated the school earlier.

Our worst fears were confirmed when we heard what our homeroom teacher had to say.

"HUDDLE UP AND DON'T MOVE! THIRTEEN, PROTECT THE STUDENTS!"

This is not a simulation. This is not practice. This is reality. These people are-

"Sensei! Are those battle robots like those from the-"

"DON'T MOVE! THOSE ARE **_VILLAINS!_**"

What arrived is the evil of the world that we are expected to fight against after our three years of education here. They are here, right in U.A.

They are Villains.

* * *

Y'know, when he first woke up in the morning, all he expected was to enjoy just another school day. Like, he _knows_ that he is a_ hero-in-training _and that he would be involved in some combat scenarios regularly. But come on! It's only just the_ third day_ of school!

NO ONE SAID THAT THEY WOULD BE FACING **_REAL_** **_VILLAINS _**ON THE THIRD DAY OF SCHOOL!

Even then, he miraculously managed to compose himself. He is Sero Hanta, a future hero. He can at least do this much, yeah?

Aizawa-sensei is down at the plaza facing the entire group of villains by himself while Thirteen was ushering for them to get out of USJ. The villains had somehow brought down all forms of communication with the outside world and even their resident electric quirk user had no way of bringing it back up. The only reasonable option left is to run and get backup from someone in the main school building.

Well, that _was _the plan until some weird black fog guy managed to separate all of them by teleporting the entire class into different locations in the USJ. The change of events was so fast that nobody had any time to react. Before he knew it, he is now free falling in the air at some unknown place.

Great, just his luck.

Using the quick reflexes that he is so proud of, Sero managed to catch the two other people that had fallen with him here the moment he spotted them.

"Thanks!"

"Sero, right?"

"That's right!" Sero replied as he quickly swung them down to safety. They are undoubtedly in the Downpour Zone. Visibility is poor, heavy rain is falling everywhere and the winds are so strong that they have to constantly raise the volume of their voices to even hear each other. The water might hinder the stickiness of his tapes, but he wouldn't worry too much about it. He may not be the brightest, but he has confidence in his abilities.

The only good thing is that there are a lot of buildings for him to swing around here. He can make do with this. At least he isn't at the Conflagration Zone or the Flood Zone. His quirk wouldn't be as useful there.

"So, only the three of us?" Shinso asked as he, Onpa, and himself pressed their backs against each other in a defensive formation. Already, a sizable group of villains is surrounding them, waiting for the right opportunity to do them in.

Damn, they are really not holding anything back even if it's against supposed kids. These are _real _villains, the**_ real deal._**

"Sero." Onpa's voice could be heard from his right as Sero's elbows are already pointing outwards, eyes scanning for the best possible places to stick his tapes to. "Just to be sure, your quirk is…?"

"Tape." Sero quickly replied. There's no time to go for an in-depth explanation, so that will have to do.

"Good. Among the three of us here, I have the most firepower. Mind rounding them up for me so that I can finish them all in one shot?"

"My quirk is not as useful in such a scenario, but I can probably do something useful." Shinso chipped in. "Oi, loverboy, we go for Opening No. 3?"

"Do it."

_Opening No. 3?_

"Hey asshole!" Sero watched on in curiosity as Shinso openly taunted the biggest, meanest, scariest looking villain with a body covered entirely in some sort of hard substance. Probably some sort of rock. The purple-haired classmate of his slowly and dramatically raised his middle finger at the villain.

Wow, considering their plight, that definitely takes some _serious balls_ to pull off.

"Let me guess, you became a villain because even your momma couldn't stand your ugly looking mug? Or your girl left you because the only part of you that can turn hard is that ugly looking skin of yours?"

A brief moment of silence ensued.

Sero knows he's far from the brightest, but it didn't take a genius to be able to tell that the villain is now absolutely pissed.

_"You fucking **brat**! I'll-"_

"Punch all the other villains around you!"

And to Sero's and the rest of the villains' visible surprise, that tough looking villain did just what Shinso said.

"Sero! No time to be daydreaming!"

Onpa's words quickly snapped him out of his thoughts as he immediately launched his tapes at the nearest group of villains he could see. The adhesive properties and toughness of his tapes quickly snared most of them near his corner. He can see Onpa rapidly blasting away at another group of villains with some sort of invisible projectiles he fired from his open palms, creating quite a din in the process. Shinso got rid of any villains they missed out or got too close to them with the electric bracelets he wore around his wrists.

Onpa had said that his quirk manipulate sound. Sero has no idea how that gives Onpa the ability to blast everything around him away like what Bakugo's explosions can do, but now is not the time to play detective.

"Onpa!"

Sero swung the group of villains he captured in Onpa's direction, who responded by aiming a palm right at the bundle before somehow blowing them away with so much force that it made them crash through several concrete walls.

"For villains, you guys are just some miserable weak nameless grunts, aren't you?!"

"Watch your-"

"Punch the guy on your left!"

Right, brainwashing. Should have remembered Shinso's unique quirk from the Battle Trial yesterday. Shinso had not been idle either while he and Onpa were busy clearing house.

Remembering that Shinso's quirk offers no combat abilities. Sero quickly helped him out by restraining any villains that might pose an immediate threat to the three of them. Onpa is like their walking artillery, calmly firing away pulses of… _something _that forced the villains to keep a healthy distance away from them. It's like he can fire off mini invisible air bullets, just a lot smaller in scale than what Midoriya can do with his crazy punches.

Somehow, Onpa's way of fighting reminds him a lot of how Bakugo uses his quirk too.

"Sero, duck!"

Sero did not question nor did he hesitate upon hearing Onpa's warning. He immediately dropped himself to the floor just as Onpa suddenly fired an attack where his head was supposed to be a moment ago. There was a loud crash and an unconscious figure slowly materialised from atop the resulting debris.

Someone actually managed to turn invisible and somehow sneaked up to him undetected? Even in all the rain where it could possibly make his invisibility useless? He really needs to be more alert to his surroundings.

Shinso dodged another punch from a villain that managed to close the distance with some sort of speed quirk. The purple-haired classmate of his aimed a punch straight for the villain's neck, managing to get a good shock in using the equipment he wore to increase his combat abilities.

"I'm starting to love these babies."

There was another loud boom, and where another group of villains once stood was now an empty crater.

"We're done here. I don't hear anyone else other than the three of us."

"That's surprisingly fast and easy." Sero found himself stating his thoughts out loud as he looked around. How long did it even take? Three minutes?

"We got lucky. The villains obviously don't know what quirks we have. They wouldn't have responded to Shinso's taunts otherwise." Onpa replied. "This could have gone very wrong if they knew our quirks right from the very start."

"We need to quickly go check on our classmates." Shinso immediately said. "The black fog guy must have dropped us into different parts of the USJ, and Aizawa-sensei is still holding off the entire group of villains all by himself. He needs some backup."

"We _all _need backup." Onpa corrected as he dusted his hands, or his gauntlets in this case. "We also need to move quickly. I can fly on my own. Sero, can you carry Shinso with you?"

"Sure thing!" Sero replied with a thumbs up. He has no idea what is going on right now, but Onpa seems like the type to be able to keep a clear head no matter the situation and he looks like he knows what he is doing, so he is more than happy to let Onpa do the decision making.

Without further ado, they made their way out of the Downpour Zone. Sero rapidly swung himself from building to building using his tapes with Shinso securely strapped to his back with some excess tape. Somehow, Onpa managed to do incredible leaps that covered great distances and even managed to achieve propelled flight using the speakers on the bottom of his boots and from the center of his palms.

"How can manipulating sound gives you the ability to fly?" Sero cannot help but blurt out his question upon seeing what Onpa can do. It's just… unfathomable.

"A dash of inspiration, a lot of imagination, extensive research on the laws of physics, and countless practices together with a whole lot of help from my family." Onpa answered after some thought. "It took me years to get to this point, although the ease of what I'm doing now is also largely attributable to the costume design. The special boots helped a whole lot."

"Loverboy is a little on the crazy side when it comes to experimenting with his quirk. Also a little bit of a physics and music nut. He is what people call a crazy genius or a brilliant madman." Shinso commented.

"Loverboy?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Sero can literally hear the excitement in Shinso's voice. "There's this girl from-"

"Oi, you _do know_ that if you want to hit on Hoshi, the last thing you should do is to offend me, right?"

"I told you I'm **_not _**hitting on your sister!"

"Yeah, right. I'd be a fool to believe that." Onpa snorted. "You have the hots for Hoshi and Hoshi totally has a thing for you. Although I'm warning you, if you want to be my brother-in-law you are definitely in for a bout with me and nii-chan. We are overprotective of her like that."

"Wait, what?" Sero asked, genuinely confused. _Just what is going on?!_

The three of them finally exited the Downpour Zone. Onpa wasted no time in flying up to get a good view, although making sure that he is hiding behind a tall structure so that he stays out of sight of the other villains scattered around the USJ. Even when hovering high up in the air, Sero can somehow hear Onpa's voice loud and clear on the ground.

"Todoroki definitely has things covered at the Landslide Zone. I can't see what's going on in the Conflagration Zone. Bakugo is definitely in the Ruins Zone from the amount of explosions I can hear and he is a good battler, so things are definitely okay there. Mountain Zone is too far for us to effectively reach in time."

"That leaves the Flood Zone, right?"

"I cannot spot anyone there. The ship's already split into two- oh, I see them. Tsuyu, Midoriya, and Mineta made it out relatively unscathed and is watching- _oh shit_."

By this point, Sero had managed to find a tall spot for him to climb up and see what the hell is going on in the entire USJ. That includes seeing what Onpa had seen.

Right at the plaza near them, their homeroom teacher is being pinned down by a monstrous being with an exposed brain, arms snapped like a twig and bleeding a huge puddle of blood on the ground, obviously unable to move.

"AIZAWA-"

"Shh!" Onpa quickly silenced them and dragged them down to hide themselves from view. "Giving away our positions won't do anyone any good! That thing obviously took down Aizawa-sensei, a Pro Hero, with ease since there is not a scratch on him… or it. Whatever that thing is. There's no chance of us defeating it. If we want to help Aizawa-sensei, we need to have the element of surprise!"

"Sero, how strong are your tapes?" Shinso asked.

"Against something like _that?_" Sero pointed at the monster that they are slowly sneaking up on that has their teacher in a deathgrip. There's no doubt in their minds that they have to do something to rescue their teacher. "I honestly won't bet on my tapes holding it down for long, but I can make up for it in quantity and hope it buys us enough time."

"That thing doesn't even look human." Shinso commented.

"I haven't heard it speak, not even once." Onpa added. "If that's the case, your quirk may not be able to work here. I can induce a form of motion sickness that might temporarily weaken the handyman and the buff birdbrain, but other than that there's nothing much I can do with Aizawa-sensei in their hands."

"Let's just pray that Asui, Mineta, and Midoriya can react fast enough to help us."

"Or…" Onpa used a finger to point to the blade strapped across his back and made a slicing motion. "I can… you know…_ chop chop chop_."

"Seriously?!"

"There's no time to debate about this. Aizawa-sensei might really die at this rate." Shinso reminded them as they finally managed to sneak up close enough to the unknown villain with many hands covering his body and the monster with an exposed brain. They are hidden close enough behind a large bush and had not got themselves noticed so far.

"Handyman seems to like to talk an awful lot. If handyman reacts, I will deal with him." Shinso stated. "You two focus on saving Aizawa-sensei from birdbrain."

"Right." Sero nodded. "If they can bring down Aizawa-sensei without so much as a scratch, we probably don't have much of a chance. I'll just grab sensei with my tape the first chance I see."

"And then we bail out of here." Shinso completed.

"Handyman spotted Midoriya and gang." Sero can hear Onpa gritting his teeth as he said this. "There's no time to discuss any further. I'll provide the opening."

Before any of them can stop him, Onpa is already running towards the villains.

* * *

Crap crap crap _crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap-_

Midoriya can feel his eyes widening and his heartrate shooting through the roof the moment the villain that calls himself Shigaraki spotted them and is slowly making his way over here. His mind went into overdrive as he tried to recall whatever little facts he had learnt about the two villains in front of him and how this information can be useful in getting them and their teacher out of their current plight.

Shigaraki's quirk allows him to disintegrate anything he touches Shigaraki treats everything like a video game, view All Might as the final boss They are here to kill All Might. Shigaraki claimed that the creature known as Nomu is their secret weapon, which means its capabilities is at least equal to, or even greater than All Might's For Aizawa-sensei to lose so easily to it, it means his quirk didn't work on Nomu, so Nomu must have a Mutant type quirk

He can feel a certain dwarf hugging his leg while yelling his fear out for everyone to hear.

"MIDORIYAAAA! SAVE ME!"

Midoriya clenched his teeth and mentally prepared himself to sacrifice another finger, or all ten of his fingers if need be. While Onpa had very kindly shared with him a way to possibly control this all-powerful quirk, Midoriya had no chance of practicing the advice he gave just yet. For now, there's no other way out of this but to sacrifice his limbs. Mineta's and Tsuyu's quirks don't have what they need to get them out of this, so the strength provided by One for All is the only option left.

Locking his ring finger underneath his thumb, Midoriya prepared to fire off another attack like what he did in the Flood Zone. If lady luck is smiling down on him, it might catch the villain unprepared and buy them enough time to escape, and hopefully save Aizawa-sensei as well.

The plan he had crafted in his head for that short one second was thrown out of the window when Onpa made his sudden appearance by dashing out from behind a set of thick bushes, the katana on his back already drawn and a furious look on his face. Surprisingly, he closed the distance with a burst of speed similar to how Iida's Engine quirk does.

_There's hope! They have help!_

"Watch out!" Midoriya quickly warned Onpa as he shouted in his direction. "Don't let the villain with many hands touch you! And the villain holding sensei down is probably as strong as All Might!"

"Another one? Nevermind that, I'll just let you decay by my hands-"

**"Fear not! For I am here!"**

"All Might?!" The handyman was visibly surprised at the sudden voice of the No. 1 Hero sounding out from somewhere. Even Midoriya himself was taken aback. "Where-"

"Stay your ground and don't move!"

Midoriya's heart soared the moment Shigaraki suddenly remained immobile. Beside him, Mineta is crying tears of joy and even Tsuyu is having a big smile on her face.

_Shinso! That has to be Shinso!_

With Shinso effectively immobilising the creepy handyman with his quirk, Sero also appeared from where Onpa had emerged earlier. Surprisingly, the monster with the exposed brain did not react at all while the entire debacle was going on.

With a few swift swings of the blade, Onpa managed to cut off the monster's hands by its wrist, effectively freeing their teacher. Sero took this opportunity to quickly grab their homeroom teacher with his tapes and made a run for it. Even at the danger of the situation, Midoriya cannot help but be amazed at how insanely skilled Onpa is at using his quirk. Wasn't the only ability Onpa's quirk gave him is the ability to manipulate sound? How did Onpa use it to give him that burst of unnatural speed? How is his blade so unnaturally sharp?

Unfortunately, this isn't the time to be analysing quirks. Trying his best to clamp down on the queasy feeling at the sight of the pool of blood, Midoriya quickly turned to the shortest member of the class.

"Mineta!"

"I'm on it! Take this! Yaaaaaaaaahhhh!"

Mineta wasted no time in throwing his ball-like stuff at the Nomu, effectively sticking it into the ground and restricting its movements.

"Its hands!"

Asui's words got their attention as to their collective disbelief, the monster _regenerated _its hands right in front of their very eyes.

"What the-"

"SHIGARAKI! Snap out of it!"

The sudden reappearance of the villain with the warping quirk, also known as Kurogiri, spelled disaster for them when he slapped Shigaraki out of the brainwash Shinso had over him.

"_You…_" There was a brief pause of noise and action that got their skin crawling, the only sound that filled the air around them was the heavy breathing of a pissed off villain and the obsessed scratching of his neck. "**DAMN BRATS! Nomu, GET THEM!**"

"Run! My quirk is not holding him back anymore!"

"Get out of here! The base strength of the Nomu is easily on par with All Might!" Their teacher, who somehow managed to stay conscious despite the physical torture inflicted on him, quickly relayed to them the information they need. Nothing in life has prepared Midoriya for the sight of a monster with the strength on par with All Might marching up to them. No matter what he did, there's no stopping the sense of fear pooling at the bottom of his gut.

Oh shit, what do they do what do they do _whatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydowhatdotheydo-_

"Tsuyu! Shinso! Your quirks won't be as useful here! Get sensei out of here! Sero, Mineta, immobilise handyman! Midoriya! We need your super strength! Handyman's obviously the leader, so just end him in one punch!"

"I know!"

There wasn't time to think. He's sure his body is shaking in fear at the thought of facing a villain that even their teacher said is as strong as _All Might, _but Midoriya still found himself listening to whatever Onpa had told him to do. Sero had shot the largest barrage of tapes Midoriya had ever seen him produced in such a short time as Mineta threw his own sticky balls, immobilising Shigaraki with a large pile of white and purple.

Without a second thought, Midoriya ran up towards Shigaraki. In other circumstances, he might want to try and limit his power to only use only what is strictly required, but there's no time to hesitate now. His friends are counting on him and if the sacrifice of one limb is able to save all their lives, then he will gladly give his arm away.

**"SmmMMMMMASSSSSSHHH!"**

He cannot help but let out a grin when his punch connected without any of his bones breaking. Sure, his entire body rattled a little and it kicked up a large cloud of dust and smoke, but his _bones didn't break_.

He can still keep going!

"Midoriya! RUN!"

A roll of white tape suddenly wrapped itself around his waist and the next thing Midoriya knew, Sero had violently pulled him out of there. It was then Midoriya realised that what he punched wasn't Shigaraki, but _Nomu_.

The horrifying realisation sank in when he saw that the Nomu looked as fine as when it first appeared._ It took on the full 100% without any damage?! **That's not possible!**_

Midoriya was thankful that Sero pulled him out just in time, because a deafening smash resounded across the entire plaza and shook the entire ground with it the moment Sero got him out of there. The creature called Nomu had retaliated.

"H-How?! I was sure my smash connected!" Midoriya stuttered as for once, his intelligent brain could not find any immediate answers as to how Nomu survived his 100%. "I hit it! I'm sure of it!"

"But Onpa's blade cut its hands right off!" Sero reminded them as the four of them quickly got back into the game.

"You fools." Their attention was brought back to Shigaraki as he decayed Sero's tapes and Mineta's balls to dust, finally regaining his mobility. "Did you seriously think that we would come here to kill All Might without the proper buffs and equipment?"

"Shut up."

In a way that reminded Midoriya of his bad-tempered childhood friend, Onpa directed a powerful and loud blast at handyman from his palm, only for the Nomu to move at a speed faster than what their eyes can comprehend and bodily block it for the handyman without so much as suffering a single scratch once again.

"Watch out for the fog guy!"

Sero's shout got them to quickly scatter as Kurogiri attempted to separate them again.

"It doesn't make any sense! Midoriya's punch did nothing to the brain thing yet Onpa managed to cut it?!"

"I-I'm guessing this Nomu monster must have a shock absorption quirk!" Midoriya gave his speculation as they try to not get smashed to paste. "That may be why blunt force probably didn't work, but a precise cutting force did! All Might is known for his punches, which falls under the category of blunt force, and Shigaraki said that Nomu is the ultimate weapon designed to specifically kill him! The logic fits!"

"Cover your ears!" Onpa shouted out as the Nomu made a lunge for them while he extended his palms out in the same direction. "I'll deal with this Nomu, just run!"

Midoriya was awed by Onpa's power once again when he created the largest and loudest explosion of noise and wind as everything in front of them was blown away, gouging out a huge cone-shape crater right in front of their eyes.

"H-Holy shit."

"If I cannot deal direct damage onto the Nomu, then I'll just blow him away with everything else." Onpa muttered, although there's no hiding how much more heavy his breathing had just gotten. That last attack had definitely taken a toll on him. "Where did handyman and fogman go?"

"I-I saw them flying away together with the Nomu." Mineta stuttered. "Let's just get out of here while we still can!"

"Agreed." Onpa said as they quickly made a dash for the USJ exit where they can see some of their classmates are at. "Hopefully, somebody had managed to get an SOS signal out- ARGH!"

With a desperate shove, Onpa suddenly blasted the lot of them away from him while using the backblast to escape from a sneak attack appearing right above them. The Nomu, Shigaraki, and Kurogiri made their reappearance with another portal.

"ONPA!"

"JUST GO! GET HELP FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

"Resistance is futile."

"Oh no you don't!"

Obviously enraged, Sero quickly wrapped his tape around Kurogiri's metal collar to prevent him from conducting anymore sneak attacks. Mineta is desperately throwing his purple balls at Shigaraki and while it is doing a fine job in slowing him down, the villain would just decay them eventually if Mineta did not keep up the pressure.

There was another boom as Onpa jumped into the air to avoid a downward smash of the Nomu's massive arms. With a perfectly timed blast of sound from the speakers on his boots and palms that provided a burst of repulsive force, he avoided another series of punches the Nomu launched at him while he is still in midair. Another swing of the blade later, Onpa managed to cut off the entire right arm of the Nomu while managing to somehow get behind its back with a burst of speed.

_So… skilled! How much control did Onpa have over his quirk to be able to do this?! Wasn't the only ability of his quirk the manipulation of sound? Was that a **real **sonic bullet?! Like the one he used on Shinso yesterday? He had only thought Onpa named it as such for the sake of being cool! Not like he's not cool, but it's a **real sonic bullet!** It has to be!_

"Fuck! It can regenerate even in this state?!"

True to Onpa's words, that's exactly what the Nomu is doing.

"Give up! It's game over for you wannabe heroes! All Might is not here to save you!"

Onpa's only response was to let loose a deafening roar from his mouth that produced a shockwave so strong that it sent the handyman flying towards the Flood Zone.

Divide and conquer, that's it!

"SHIGARAKI!" Kurogiri shouted out in obvious worry, but unable to do anything as Sero and him got Kurogiri pinned down.

"Just stay there until we get rid of the Nomu problem, Shiga… what's handyman's name again?" Onpa questioned out loud to no one in particular.

"BEHIND YOU!" Mineta yelled out.

Even without looking, Onpa managed to dodge another punch of the Nomu creature as he continues to grab its attention and slowly lure it away from them by constantly skirting out of its reach, but not far enough for the Nomu to lose interest in him.

"Onpa!" Midoriya found himself yelling in worry.

"I'm fine! Just finish the other two while I take care of birdbrain over here!"

At the exact same moment, Kurogiri started to release more of the black fog from his body.

"I won't let you!"

With a yell filled with determination, Sero started to swing Kurogiri around in the air the moment he spotted him trying to warp away once more. His impromptu idea seemed to manage to stop the fogman from warping somehow, so Midoriya joined him in swinging him around despite how tiring it is for them to do so.

The least they can do to help Onpa, who is facing the Nomu creature all alone, the creature said to be created to kill _All Might_, is to at least make sure that this Kurogiri cannot join the battle.

"Quirks are simply physical abilities, there should be a limit to how much the Nomu can regenerate! Just keep forcing him to regenerate and it should hit its limit!" Midoriya yelled out whatever information that might be remotely useful to Onpa, his usual stuttering gone as he helped Sero in swinging Kurogiri around. Mineta had gone to watch the Flood Zone and threw in some of his balls whenever he saw handyman trying to swim his way back, keeping him as far away as possible for as long as he can.

The Nomu suddenly wobbled and dropped to a single knee, probably due to Onpa inducing a temporary artificial state of motion sickness in it like what Uraraka said he did in the Battle Trial yesterday. Onpa wasted no time in slicing all four of its limbs off this time. The speed of it convinced Midoriya that Onpa must be _really _experienced in using a katana because there's no other way to explain how he did it.

"Try to regenerate from **_that_**, you- oh for the love of- _of course _you can."

Onpa made his escape from the newly regenerated Nomu by leaping high up into the air before firing several sonic blasts down at the Nomu to get its attention back on him. However, it is also getting more and more obvious that such high-speed combat is wearing Onpa out faster than the Nomu. It doesn't matter if Onpa somehow has the speed and skill to fight against the Nomu right now. At this rate, exhaustion will do him in. Onpa can slice at the Nomu all he wants but just one punch from the Nomu will cripple him.

Midoriya cannot help but pray in his heart

_Everyone, please be alright! Someone, anyone, please come soon!_

* * *

This day had really gone to shit.

"Thirteen-sensei is down too, ribbit!"

"I know!" Hiding themselves and leaving Asui to protect their homeroom teacher who finally succumbed to his injuries and passed out, Shinso gritted his teeth as he quickly visually scanned which villains would be the best to use his quirk on.

He found three.

Changing his voice into the fogman using the Artificial Vocal Cords, he got into action while ensuring that he hides himself from view.

"We are leaving in three minutes! Hurry up!"

There was a chorus of replies and Shinso felt the mental tug that signifies the successful use of his quirk.

_Bingo_

"Protect the students and the teachers! Take out everyone else!"

A villain with a tiger mutant quirk, another that can shoot freaking bullets out of his fingers, and one with the size of an overgrown gorilla quickly got to work as Shinso and Asui got out from their hiding place. Using the electric shocker he wore on his wrists, he quickly put down a few that he caught by surprise as Asui got to the rest of the class who were trapped near the entrance in a single leap while bringing Aizawa-sensei with her.

"Shinso! Asui! You guys are alright!"

"I'm not sure how long I can hold the three villains with my quirk! Make quick work of the rest of them, hurry! We also need to assist Hibiki and the rest at the plaza!"

With Asui's help, Uraraka got a few villains to float in the air before she sent them crashing back down. Tokoyami and Shoji forcefully subdued a few for Shinso to shock into unconsciousness. The distraction he and Asui gave seems to buy Yaoyorozu enough time to create a literal bazooka as she starts to blast groups upon groups of villains away from them.

"All down!" Ashido called out with a happy tone in her voice when she took down the last one with her acid. Finally, at least now there is one place they know for certain that is secured.

"The villains brought in a monster said to be able to kill All Might, ribbit! Onpa, Midoriya, Sero, and Mineta are trying to buy us time but I don't think they can hold out for long. We need to hurry and help them!"

"I'll go." Tokoyami volunteered immediately. "Dark Shadow is useful in combat and he can take hits that might otherwise be fatal."

"I shall, too." Shoji answered immediately.

"We cannot send everyone out! Someone has to at least make sure this place remains secure so that we have a place to defend the injured!" Yaoyorozu quickly stated. "My quirk is useful in such a situation. I can stay behind while creating firearms to provide support! Iida had already escaped to inform the school about the situation here, so all we need to do is to hang in there long enough for reinforcements to arrive!"

"Just Shoji and Tokoyami should be enough." Shinso decided. "Physically, that Nomu monster is too strong for anyone else to handle. Anyone whose quirk requires you to be up close should stay behind and just defend this area and wait for the teachers to come. The rest of us should go now."

"I-I can go too!" Ashido raised her arm into the air. "My acid may be of use!"

"Fine. Let's just go."

Without further ado, the four of them ran back to the plaza. From where they are, they can easily see Hibiki single handedly holding back the grotesque monster by himself while Sero and Midoriya are keeping the fogman busy. The perverted Mineta is still throwing his sticky balls into the waters at the nearby Flood Zone to prevent the handyman from swimming back.

Good.

There was a sound of a cannon firing from somewhere and it hit the Nomu squarely in its face. Must be Yaoyorozu.

"I got help!" Shinso yelled out as Ashido, Tokoyami, and Shoji arrived onto the scene with him.

"Finally!" Sero cannot help but let out a smile on his face even if it cannot be seen thanks to his helmet.

"Hibiki, what do you need us to do?!" Shinso yells out, not knowing if there's any new development that they need to be aware of.

"Get handyman to continue swimming in the Flood Zone! Make sure fogman cannot warp! Distract this Nomu enough for me to get a breather! I'm going to slip up at this rate! It's too fast and I am starting to be unable to keep up!"

"Got it!"

A mass of limbs sprouted out from Shoji's arms as he tried to hold the Nomu back. It did for one short second before the Nomu broke free once more. Ashido sprayed a large volume of acid at the monster but it did nothing but to serve as a minor hindrance. Tokoyami's Black Shadow joined in the fray to take some of the heat off Onpa while Yaoyorozu's cannon shot a wide net at the Flood Zone, snaring Shigaraki in it.

"I… **_won't _**_be stopped!"_

As if somehow finding a new reservoir of power, the fogman somehow managed to find a way to warp away a part of the tape binding him in order to break free.

"Shit! Look out! Fogman got free!"

"Onpa! Tokoyami!"

Within a split second, the dripping wet handyman was brought back by the fogman with the Nomu still on a rampage trying to get a good hit onto Onpa. It would have hit him a few times if it wasn't for Tokoyami's Black Shadow tanking some of those hits for him and Shoji's extended limbs pulling him out. The Nomu is just that fast.

Numerous black portals appeared around them, which got them to immediately scatter upon recognizing the threat. One appeared in front of handyman, who stuck a hand through it.

Shinso's eyes frantically darted around. _Which one?! Which portal would the handyman's hand come out from?!_

**_Which one?!_**

There was a familiar blast of sound and Shinso turned his head, just in time to see his best friend propelling himself like a rocket before bodily knocking Midoriya away from an outstretched hand that appeared from a portal behind the mini All Might.

_Shit!_

"Hibiki!"

**_"ONPA!"_**

**_"Let him go!"_**

**_"Stop!"_**

"I wanted to just toy around with the All Might fanboy, but you would make a good substitute as well." Handyman went on his rant as he got Hibiki by his neck with a strong grip. "Given how you knocked me into the pond and gave me such a hard time, are you a hidden boss? Maybe killing you would give me some nice EXP?"

Shinso saw Hibiki slowly moving his fingers and he caught the cue. He must have something up his sleeves. In that case, then he will distract the handyman.

To Shinso's despair, handyman's grip on Hibiki's neck visibly tightened before either of them could do anything, forcing Hibiki to abort whatever he was trying to do.

_"Try anything funny and it's **Game Over** for you."_ Handyman said in a low tone. "I don't know what your quirk does exactly, but it has to be something related to sound. An upgrade of Present Mic's quirk, perhaps?"

"LET HIM GO!" Shinso roared out, ready to use his quirk at a moment's notice. He can tell that it is the same for his classmates as well.

The handyman waved a finger at them in warning.

"Some of you already know what my quirk does, right?" Handyman continues his monologue, which doesn't allow Shinso to use his quirk since that doesn't count as a reply. The handyman picked up a nearby rubble the size of a tennis ball with his other hand before swiftly turning it into dust.

"Annoy me one more time, and the same thing will happen to your friend here."

"You-!" Shinso wanted to just go and beat the crap out of this piece of trash with his fists alone, only for Shoji to hold him back.

"Keep calm, Shinso!" Shoji urged. "Don't endanger Onpa any further!"

The handyman turned back to look at Hibiki, who he is still holding with a hand around his neck through the portal. Hibiki simply settled for glaring at the handyman, obviously wary of what he would do if he made the wrong move.

"This game's NPCs are at a way higher level than usual." Handyman commented, but it is more like him rambling at this point. "Such promising talent, and for what? To die even before you can be a hero?"

"You are not half bad yourself." As if he doesn't fear for his life, Hibiki actually spoke back. "Such promising talent, and for what? Become a villain that picks on school kids?"

_"You-!"_

"Shigaraki." The fogman interrupted. "I've been trying to tell you this, but one of the students had escaped. Reinforcements from U.A. will be arriving soon."

"Argh, damn it Kurogiri! We won't stand a chance against a dozen of pros! It's Game Over, man. _Game Over._" Like a petulant child, the handyman started to whine and make a fuss with his deadly and pale hand still gripping onto Hibiki's throat, but obviously applying even more pressure from how Hibiki is now desperately trying to breathe in more air. **_"For now."_**

There was a brief period of tense silence with all of them facing the handyman.

Shinso is ready to use his quirk whenever possible. He can see Sero watching handyman's every movement, ready to grab Onpa out of there at a moment's notice. The same goes for Shoji. Every single one of them is about to make a move to save Hibiki at the slightest hint of danger.

His friend's life is at stake, and there's _no damn way he is going to not do anything **damn it!**_

The handyman gave them one last sweeping look before his gaze turned back to Hibiki.

"Well, goodbye."

"HIBIKI!"

"ONPA!"

"SHIT! GET HIM AWAY FROM THE VILLAIN!"

**BOOM!**

There was a booming crash, this time from the front doors of the USJ. It made everyone take a pause because the sheer force of the wind that was kicked up from the impact had swept them off their feet even when they were so far away.

Shinso quickly picked himself up and tried to track his friend's whereabouts, only to find that the handyman had been knocked onto the floor as well and is clutching at his broken arm which was holding onto Hibiki while hissing in pain. Shinso can feel himself panicking as he frantically tried to see where his best friend is.

_Hibiki! What happened to him?!_

**_"EVERYTHING'S FINE!"_**

Shinso felt himself sagging in relief when he saw that Hibiki had been safely rescued and placed out of harm's way.

_Thank goodness. This is nothing short of a miracle._

**_"Fear not. I…"_**

_All Might. All Might had arrived._

**_"AM HERE!"_**


	11. Chapter 11- Aftermath

**_"I… AM HERE!"_**

I cannot help but let out a smile on my face at All Might's presence. This is definitely like a scene out of your typical shonen manga. Just the sight of the Symbol of Peace arriving onto the scene was enough to get me to calm down.

It also helps that he managed to get me out of that hostage situation just right before handyman tried to turn me into dust. I had tried to use my quirk to see if I could disable handyman with the least amount of movement to try and not alert him, but he saw through it immediately.

That's why I'm glad that All Might arrived in the nick of time. It might really be Game Over for me if he didn't do so. All All Might had to do was to appear and just like that, I am now miraculously free.

This is the power of the No. 1 Hero, the Symbol of Peace.

There was another gust of wind as All Might suddenly disappeared from view again. In the next second, all eight of us who were fighting with handyman, fogman, and the Nomu earlier are now way further back away from the three villains. All Might managed to rescue all of us out of the battlefield in just a _single second?!_

_Just how fast is he?!_

"Hibiki!"

"I'm fine!" I reassured Shinso and my other classmates who are genuinely worried about me. "What about Aizawa-sensei?!"

"Your teacher is fine. All of you! Head for the entrance!" All Might barked out as he got into a combative stance. "Let the Pros take things from here!"

"It's no use, All Might!" Midoriya quickly spoke up in worry. "The brain villain had a shock absorption quirk, only something sharp like Onpa's sonic blade could effectively damage it and even then it can also regenerate! The villain with many hands can disintegrate anything he touches and the man with the black fog has a warping quirk! You would need-"

"Young Midoriya." All Might turned back to look at us, a big smile on his face and his usual pearly white teeth glinted under the light as he struck a pose. Even with how ridiculous this kind of pose is supposed to look, somehow, the way All Might did it gives us a great sense of assurance.

_Have no fear, for I am here._

_This_, is what it means to be a hero. This is what being the _No. 1 Hero _means. Your very presence itself is the definition of safety.

"Fear not!"

With those parting words, All Might dashed ahead to meet the three villains in battle.

"Carolina…"

"We need to go." Shinso, being the voice of reason, brought us out of our trance as All Might began to dish out devastating attacks against the Nomu. "All Might is the No. 1 Hero, he can handle this. We will only be a burden to All Might here. He cannot fight at his best if he has to constantly worry about our safety."

"Onpa, can you walk?"

"I'm fine." I reassured Sero as I stood up and ushered them for us to make haste and leave the area. I flashed Midoriya a brief smile to calm him down. Knowing his character, that poor guy must be feeling so guilty and convinced that he was the one that nearly got me killed.

"Then let's move." Shinso urged us once more and we quickly made our way out of there. The fight between All Might and Nomu is the real clash of the titans as they matched each other blow for blow, not like how I was barely keeping up with it by skirting just right out of its reach and sneaking in potshots every now and then.

That fight over there is way out of our league.

"Midoriya?" Mineta asked in concern when the mini All Might kept looking back at the fight in obvious worry. What's he so worried about?

"That doesn't look so good."

Shoji's comment got us looking back at how All Might is now being physically restrained by the Nomu while the two of them are partially sunk into a portal fogman had conjured. He's right, this doesn't look so good for All Might. If fogman closes the portal right now, All Might might really be bisected into two.

"ALL MIGHT!"

We were all briefly stunned when Midoriya suddenly ran ahead in an attempt to save All Might. What is he going to accomplish by running straight ahead into danger?!

"Midoriya!"

"That idiot!" Shinso swore as the rest of us could only follow in hopes that Midoriya did not get himself seriously hurt by suddenly running in like that. Fogman is standing in Midoriya's way, and I really don't want to find out where he would suck Midoriya into.

"GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!"

A series of familiar sounding explosions knocked the fog villain away from Midoriya. Bakugo Katsuki made his appearance as he slammed and pinned fogman to the ground. At the same time, a layer of frost covered the right side of the Nomu while Kirishima almost managed to land a heavy punch onto handyman.

Well, things might be looking good for us after all. Bakugo, Todoroki, and Kirishima are some of the strongest fighters in our class.

"DON'T MOVE!" Bakugo growled out as his hands sparked with mini explosions, forcing the fogman to stay down. "If I decide that you are doing anything fishy, I'll blow you to kingdom come!"

"That's not very hero-like, dude." Kirishima commented, his eyes still locked onto the handyman.

"Surrender now." Shinso spoke to the villains coldly, obviously trying to see if he can get the drop on handyman once more with his quirk. However, handyman merely gave him a brief look before looking back at All Might, who had managed to get himself out of Nomu's grip when it got itself partially frozen from Todoroki's ice.

To figure out, or at least suspect what Shinso quirk is only after getting affected by it once, this handyman is definitely a smart one.

"You've pinned down our only way out and also beaten our level. Not only that, all of you are at full health. The League of Villains really should be ashamed!" Handyman said with a dramatic sigh without a care in the world, like him getting apprehended today is definitely not going to happen even with All Might around.

And then, like a switch had been flipped, his voice turned serious once more.

"Nomu. Take out the explosive brat. We need our escape route back."

With a guttural roar, the inhuman creature broke the frozen part of its body and immediately began to regenerate itself right before our very eyes. Bones, muscles, skin. Its entire right side of its body began to stitch and regrow itself back once more. It's the same thing when I was the one facing it. Doesn't matter even if I cut off all its limbs, it just grew them right back.

"Surprised? This is Hyper Regeneration, although the sword-wielding one would already know that first-hand." Handyman stated with pride as if he is introducing a new toy to everyone else. "Nomu is a super-powered living sandbag designed to withstand _everything you've got_, ALL MIGHT!"

With my ears, I can hear the sound of the Nomu's muscles moving and from there, I have a vague prediction of where he is heading to.

"Bakugo! Get away from there!"

I don't know if my warning was fast enough. All I knew was that the Nomu's punch generated a pressurised air cannon that gouged out a long trench on the floor. Bakugo is gone in one second and suddenly appears beside us in the next.

"Kacchan!"

"You dodged that?! Wow."

"No, I didn't." Bakugo snapped back at Kirishima. "Shut up."

Yeah, he didn't. All Might moved him out of the way at the last second. I didn't manage to see how he did it, but I heard it.

I looked back at the scene and weighed my options. I had expended a lot of energy since the start of the fight at the Downpour Zone till now, and had nearly worn myself out by simply trying to keep up with the Nomu's speed during our skirmish. Fighting the insanely powerful Nomu required me to constantly move at high speed when my quirk wasn't meant to be used in that manner. There's no way I can still fight in the same way like I did with the Nomu previously. My sonic blade was disarmed and thrown somewhere faraway by the combined efforts of fogman and handyman earlier, but I still have a little left in me that could possibly help All Might right now. I can still play support at the very least.

The No. 1 Hero isn't looking too good, if I have to be honest. He's bleeding, injured, and obviously on a time limit if my foreknowledge serves me right.

"Think you can get the fogman with your quirk?" I whispered to Shinso, who is standing beside me. "Handyman probably already knows or suspects what your quirk is, but there's still a chance that fogman doesn't know about it yet. If we take fogman down, then there's no way they can make a run for it."

"With help, probably. It seems like they somehow got my quirk figured out." Shinso whispered back. "But there's also now eleven of us here discounting All Might. That's more than half the class. We can still do this."

Given what my other classmates are currently talking about, they have the same thoughts too.

"No! Get out of here!" All Might insisted as he continues to stand protectively in front of us. It doesn't matter how much we protest, All Might is stubborn on not letting us students get involved. I can see why, but…

It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Even then, All Might is right about one thing.

"Fear not! Sit back and watch a _Pro _get_ **serious!"**_

We are not Pros yet. We are not qualified. We are merely high school students on their third day of high school. We can only stay back and watch as All Might reengaged the Nomu in combat all by himself.

The eleven of us are still too weak to be of any help to the No. 1 Hero.

* * *

"Hibiki!"

"Yui." I caught her in my arms the moment she all but slam open the doors of the medical bay to come find me. She's obviously distraught.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." I tried my best to reassure her as she only tightened her hug on me. Being a shy and reserved person, such open acts of affection is not something she would usually take part in. For her to do it like this so openly, she must be really scared out of her mind.

"Hey, I'm fine, see?" I gently pried her off me and used my thumb to wipe away the tears sliding down her cheeks. "All Might arrived just in time."

"I-I heard from Shinso that-"

"I nearly died?" I laughed it off, hoping that it is enough to lighten the atmosphere. "Trust me, I am hard to kill and more stubborn than a cockroach when it counts. You should know that better than anyone."

Maybe it's a good thing that my cousin had left school for Ryukyu's agency since she is doing her work study there for the next two weeks. A freaked out Yui is already a lot for me to handle. I'm not confident that I am able to placate a freaked out Yui on top of a freaked out Nejire.

I am currently in the medical bay. Since I'm one of the few who had direct contact with handyman, the villain who possesses a quirk that decays anything he touches, Recovery Girl was insistent on giving me a thorough check. From what I know, Aizawa had part of his elbow decayed, which is why they are so worried about me since handyman had grabbed me directly by the neck.

Physically, I'm fine. The only thing I'm sporting are a few bruises, a mild case of physical exhaustion, and a wounded ego. It is a traumatic experience, that I agree, but I can get over it. Our experience at the USJ is what Pro Heroes face on a daily basis. If I cannot get over it, then I might as well quit now.

All Might had really gone Plus Ultra and utterly decimated the Nomu creature. The rest of the teachers had arrived soon after, easily defeating any remaining villains they could find. Shinso had defeated many of the villains earlier by his lonesome when he and Tsuyu brought Aizawa to the entrance where an injured Thirteen is. From what I heard, Shinso's quirk had taken control of some of the stronger villains which he used to take down every other villain attacking our classmates by the entrance, securing a safe zone for them.

So all that's left for our reinforcements after that is to do cleanup. On the bright side, all my classmates made it out alive and in one piece with minimal injuries.

Unfortunately, handyman and fogman managed to make their escape. I have a sinking feeling that these two might be the real antagonists. I'm sincerely hoping that I'm wrong.

On hindsight, there were so many other things that I could have done better in that fight. I could have immobilized the villains earlier with my ability to induce motion sickness. I could have just blasted handyman's arm off, but somehow that thought didn't register to me in my head. I freaked out, even if I tried my best to keep my cool, but the fact is that I still freaked out. The fact is that I panicked and my mind just went blank.

This experience, however unfortunate, is still a harsh reality check for me.

I'm still not yet strong enough to be a hero. Even after training myself for so long to get into U.A., I'm still not ready, both physically and mentally.

That is a fact.

"Hibiki?"

"I'm fine." I reassured her as we sat side by side on the bed, even if I'm the furthest from being 'fine' right now. Even then, I don't want to worry Yui any further, so the only thing I can do is put a smile on my face and tell her that everything is alright.

_Everything is fine._

Currently, there's no one else here but the two of us. The rest of my classmates had been cleared by Recovery Girl earlier and sent back to the classroom, which was probably how Shinso managed to somehow sneaked a word in to Yui about what happened to me. I'm only here under observation because Recovery Girl wanted to be doubly sure that I'm alright before letting me go. There's still a number of things we are not sure about handyman's quirk and Recovery Girl doesn't want to take any chances.

"I'm fine." I told Yui again upon seeing her worried look. "Just had a lot on my mind, that's all."

And isn't that an understatement?

* * *

My parents and siblings are understandably worried. I managed to assure them that everything with me is alright now, but it still took a while to convince them.

Classes for the next day were cancelled. From what I know, Aizawa's condition is not life-threatening, but he did suffer some really serious injury that might cause him permanent damage. I have no idea about All Might's state since the school is tight-lipped about his condition, but he probably isn't doing so well considering that his power had been getting weaker ever since he passed it on to Midoriya.

Of course, that is a secret that I'm not supposed to know or divulge.

Since classes were cancelled, Yui came over to my house for a visit and stayed for the entirety of the day. Not that I mind, but it's obvious to me that me almost dying via_ turning to dust _had really scared her. Nejire had also called me through video call and talked to me for close to two hours the previous night, worried that there might be anything that Recovery Girl had missed out in her medical check. She nearly wanted to just drop everything at Ryukyu's agency and come here straight away until I talked her out of it.

After reassuring them again and again that I'm fine, my parents were somewhat convinced, so they left for work as per usual. Same goes for my brother. Hoshi still had to go to class, so she reluctantly went to school. Ignoring the servants, it's just me and Yui alone at home right now.

Right now, I'm just wishing that there is a way to truly convince my loved ones that I'm alright, at least physically. Mentally? I'm not so sure. All I know is that my lack of experience had nearly led me to my death. Even if I couldn't dodge the handyman's grasp, I could at least make my escape a lot sooner with wiser methods. Why didn't I think of making him motion sick sooner? I don't need to move a finger to achieve that. I definitely used that trick a few times on the Nomu, so why didn't I do it on handyman when he had me as a hostage?

The only answer I could think of is that I had let my fear of death gripped me, which is ironic considering that I had already experienced what death is before. Facing the Nomu had scared me. Having handyman's hand on my neck had made me freeze up with fear no matter how much I tried to keep my cool. I cannot deny that because that was the truth.

I'm still not good enough.

My fear had made me underperform. I had panicked and slipped up. Yes, I did great by managing to keep my cool, _somewhat_, but that's the end of it. I still messed up big time. If it wasn't for All Might appearing when he did, I might really be dust right now.

I'm still far from being a hero no matter how wonderful my quirk is. I have a long way to go.

I'm currently in the piano room playing the piano, just randomly playing any random songs that came to my head. I didn't even care if I hit the wrong keys, which is very unusual for me since I'm capable of playing any piece perfectly if I put my mind to it. Numerous guitars hung on the walls. At the corner of the room is several drum sets and percussion instruments. There is even a cello nearby, my newest project before I enrolled into U.A.

There are so many instruments for me to play with but today, smashing the keys on the piano just felt like the right thing to do.

Yui is simply providing me with some silent company as she sat beside me. Maybe we should both just admit that we are far from alright.

"I'm still too weak." I got the ball rolling since I know the chances of Yui taking the initiative to speak her mind is close to zero. She's a strong girl, but she does need some help in speaking up. "There were many things that I could have done better yesterday that would not have led to me getting taken hostage or nearly dying by handyman's… _hand_. Sorry, bad pun on my part."

My left hand played another wrong chord by mistake. Damn it, guess I'm really out of it if this keeps happening every ten bars or so. Every single song I had played is just full of mistakes today.

"It's not you being weak that I'm worried about." Yui spoke softly. "You had always been strong. I know you would come out of this stronger than before but… it's like… you don't place any value on your life."

My hands slipped as I accidentally slammed another wrong chord at hearing her words.

"What?"

"You just… _laughed _it off!" Yui curled her hands into fists as the volume of her voice went a little higher, her head tilted low so as to let her hair cover her eyes. "It's like you didn't just go through a_ life-and-death situation _and then all you did is to _laugh _it off and act like _everything is normal!_ You are not even worried about what it's like if _something_... **_something _**just went wrong and you just…"

"Dusted?"

"Hibiki!"

"Let's face it, Yui." I sighed as I decided to just stop playing the piano right then. "What my class and I experienced back at the USJ is what we will be experiencing in the future as Pro Heroes. Putting our lives on the line on a daily basis is what we will be doing, _every single day_. If I let one small setback like this put me down, to allow me to continue living in fear, then I'm not suited for the life of a hero. I might just as well quit right now and simply drop to the Support Course or the Gen Ed. Better still, I should just stop attending U.A. altogether. Do you want me to do that? Give up on our dream to be heroes?"

"N-No! But-"

"But?"

She remained silent, so I turned to face her.

"Do you see it now? It's not like I don't value my life, Yui. I do, but a hero has to put the lives of others above his own at all times, _because that is our job_. This is what it means to be a hero. All Might was facing a monster specifically made to kill him. Was he scared? I bet he was, because he is just another mortal like us no matter how strong he may seem to be. He can be killed. Why did he still continue to try and save us? Because he is a _hero_. Because he is the _Symbol of Peace_. Did he let his fear of death stop him? No. Did he let a single close brush with death stop him? No."

I placed both my hands on her shoulders and got her to look at me.

"This is the very _basic _of what it means to be a hero. I could go in-depth of what a hero should and should not be, but I don't think you would be able to digest it all right now. All you need to know is this."

I managed a smile on my face, because that is what heroes do. They smile no matter what so that they can encourage others to do the same, to give others the strength to move on. When life gives you lemons, you make the best lemonade out of it.

If there is one thing the USJ experience taught me, is that if I want to be a good hero, the first thing I should learn is how to keep smiling no matter what happens. A hero should smile even when they are losing a limb or two and bleeding out on the ground waiting for their inevitable death, because that is what heroes do. We smile and give others the strength to move on no matter how dire the circumstances are. We are the ones that give hope to others. If even _we _cannot put a smile on our faces when we get dealt a bad hand, how else can we expect others to do the same?

"Death is a bad thing, that's true, but there's no need to fear it. To be a hero is to accept your flaws and overcome your fears. To be a true hero is to be able to give without expecting anything in return. That is also the very definition of compassion, which is also what every hero should strive to be, a compassionate person."

"You are not making any sense. You nearly-"

"Died. Yes, I know."

"And you are…_ alright about that?_"

"The only reason why humans fear death is because we fear the unknown that lies behind it, but who ever said that what lies after death has to be something scary?" I spoke partly out of experience, because ever since my first death I had been living in a world while a lot more dangerous, is also a lot more beautiful than my previous one.

There's always something good in every situation. It's only a matter if you choose to see it or not.

"Hibiki-"

"Learn how to live in the present, Yui, for that is what is truly important." I replied as I went back to play the next random piece that pops into my head. "The past had already happened and the future might not happen in the way you fear it to be, so don't let your fear of the past hinder your future. Treasure what you have in the now. Learn how to be content with what you have at this moment. Once you understand that, you will find that life is now a lot brighter and death is not that scary anymore. So stop worrying about me. I may not be 100% fine now, that I admit, but I will be soon. On that note, why don't we forget about the whole USJ incident for the next two hours and simply enjoy this very moment? Any particular song that you want to hear me play?"

Of course, what I just said is easier said than done. I'm far from achieving what I just said even if I can understand the logic behind it, but it's always in the mindset. When something happens, if I choose to focus all my attention on the bad side, then it will always appear to be bad. If I choose to try and see the good in it, then my outlook of the situation will change.

At the end of it, _you _are the one who decides your own life and your own happiness. Happiness is self-generated because you are the one who chooses whether you want to be happy. Once you realise that, no matter what kind of shit life throws at you, you can always see some good in it because you are a self-sustaining happiness generating machine. When you are happy, you no longer fear death as much as you previously do, because you are happy and content with your life at every single moment.

It's how Nejire always managed to stay optimistic no matter how bad the situation may be. That's why she is always smiling. To me, that is also part of what it means to be a hero. Nejire is already a hero in that regard. I still have a lot to learn from her.

However, knowing and accomplishing what you preach are two different issues entirely. It really isn't easy trying to maintain that kind of mindset all the time at every waking moment. It's near impossible, but that's also precisely why I shouldn't let my encounter with the so-called League of Villains put me down. I survived, that's something to be happy about. _Everyone _survived, that's something to be _extremely _happy about. We had all learnt something from that traumatic experience. The next time we see those goons, they won't know what hit them.

Everything is actually not as bad as it seems once you stop focusing on the bad things that had happened and look towards the good things instead. Which other first years can boast going toe-to-toe with real villains on their third day of school and come out alive? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

"There's no need for you to put up a strong front in my presence." Yui spoke up.

"I know." I replied as I got to playing the next random song that pops into my head. "But I guess staring at death in the face kind of puts things into perspective. Why? Do you like the new me?"

There wasn't an answer, but I bet she is rolling her eyes right now even if I couldn't see it.

"You should smile more, you know that?" I stopped playing the piano for a moment as my fingers went to poke the sides of her cheeks before pushing it upwards slightly. "See? Look how much prettier you are now."

"Stop it." She frowned a little as she batted my hands away.

"You should try practicing in front of the mirror on how to smile more. Take it as hero training!"

"I _do _smile."

"True, but only a few of us could ever recognise that 1 milimeter upward twitch of your lips. Aim for half a centimeter at least? Go Plus Ultra?"

I may have annoyed her too much by trying to make her smile more, but at least the both of us are alright now.

Everything's fine now, for we are here.


	12. Chapter 12- Heart and Voice

Right on the screen is the contact number of the person who had saved his life.

Midoriya's finger hovered above the call button on his phone, but he still did not press on it. No matter how he psyched himself to just press the button, to talk to his saviour, he just cannot find the courage within him to do it. For the past 24 hours, he just couldn't press the button for some unexplainable reason.

What should he do if Onpa did pick up the call? What should he say? Onpa nearly got himself killed because of his carelessness. If he wasn't so weak, if he wasn't so slow, if he was more aware of his surroundings, if All Might were to arrive just **_one _**second later…

Midoriya really doesn't want to think about what could have happened.

_"Sweetie, I don't know what else to say because I have no idea what your friend is like, but just do what you think is right."_

_"Young Onpa doesn't seem like one to hold a grudge against something not of your control. Don't worry about it, young Midoriya."_

His mother and All Might have tried to tell him that everything is fine and he should just make the call, but how? Onpa was kind enough to impart some advice to him on how to control his quirk, and all he did in return was to almost get him killed by turning to dust.

Before he knew it, school had reopened and classes resumed. U.A. was under the heat from the media for this recent breach in security but Principal Nezu had managed to pacify the concerned masses and quell the public unrest in just a short span of a day. The class group chat was also flooded with many concerned messages about Onpa's well-being yesterday when classes got cancelled and all Onpa replied was _'I'm fine. Thanks for the concern :)'_

That doesn't really seem fine to Midoriya but he is really in a bad position to start a conversation.

Nobody had physically seen Onpa after the USJ incident because he was retained by Recovery Girl for further observation while the rest of them were quickly sent home. Thankfully, Shigaraki's quirk doesn't seem to be the type to have any hidden long lasting effects so Onpa was soon cleared and sent home as well. At least that was what All Might had told him.

So now, Midoriya is dragging himself to school, tightly gripping his notebook containing his analysis on various heroes and their quirks out of habit and also as a form of emotional support. Midoriya cannot help but dread what would happen when Onpa sees him. _What if Onpa really isn't fine? What if he's angry at him? What if he doesn't forgive him? What if-_

"Midoriya?"

Midoriya let out an embarrassingly loud squeak and jumped a few feet into the air at the mention of his name. Recognising the voice which had called him, he slowly turned around as he shivered in slight trepidation.

"O-O-Onpa-san! K-K-Kodai-san! G-G-Good morning!"

"Good morning to you too." Onpa replied on Kodai's behalf as well while blinking his eyes twice, as if he was confused. The blue haired teen looked around the area around them, which is the first floor of one of the school towers right by the staircase which will lead them to their classroom, before looking back at Kodai and himself, and then back at him.

"What are you so jittery for? There's barely anyone else here and it's not like Yui and I will eat you or anything."

Midoriya would beg to differ considering how Kodai is glaring at him behind Onpa's back with those icy blue eyes, but he has enough self-preservation instincts to not mention anything. The only thing he could do is to let out an awkward laugh.

"E-Erm, Onpa-san?" He managed to squeeze out the courage to try and say to Onpa what he failed to do yesterday. "D-Do you mind if w-we have a p-p-private word…?"

"Sure." Onpa agreed readily as he took a sip from the cup he was holding in his hand before turning back to face Kodai. Midoriya caught a faint whiff of the aroma of coffee. Onpa is a coffee person?

"You heard him. I'll see you after school, Yui."

"Mm. Take care." Was Kodai's reply to Onpa before she walked past them both to climb the staircase. It might be his own imagination, but Midoriya was sure that Kodai was emitting killer intent aiming directly straight at him.

"You comfortable with talking here or do you want to move to somewhere else that is more private?"

Midoriya's attention snapped back to Onpa as the manipulator of sound asked in a laid back manner, like he hadn't almost been killed two days ago because of Midoriya's own mistake.

"Y-You are n-n-not... _mad_ at me?" Midoriya found himself blurting out without thinking. "F-For-"

"Almost getting me killed? Is that it?"

Midoriya flinched upon hearing the blunt answer. Shit, Onpa _must _be very mad-

"Let's think about it this way." Onpa carried on the conversation while casually sipping on more coffee. "If I was the one who handyman nearly got his hands on, and the only person who is able to get me out of there is you. However, doing so will definitely land you into handyman's hand. You only have one second to think and react. What would you do?"

"I'll jump in and save you!" Midoriya exclaimed without hesitation as he clenched his fists. "I-"

"And why would you do that?" Onpa cut him off and pressed on, an unreadable look on his face.

"B-Because… Because… Because... _it's what heroes do!"_

"Precisely." Onpa said as without warning, he chopped him on the top of the head with his hand. "I did what I did because that is what heroes will do. So get over your self-imposed guilt and stop moping. I can hear your heartbeats skyrocketing from here and honestly, it's getting a little too loud. You okay now?"

"Y-Yeah." Midoriya admitted as he clutched the top of his head in dull pain, feeling a sense of relief and peace washing over him all of a sudden. "I-I wanted to call or message you yesterday, b-but I don't know what to say if you picked up the call and reply so I ended up just staring at my phone the whole day yesterday and-"

"I should have known." Onpa groaned as he dragged a palm over his face. "Knowing you, I should have at least called you to tell you that I'm alright or you will just overthink on things that aren't there."

"S-Sorry."

"Don't be." Onpa assured him before his eyes caught sight of the notebook in his hand.

"You are always scribbling something in that notebook. What is it?"

"Oh, this?" Midoriya flipped open his dog-eared notebook. "It's just a notebook detailing everything I know about every hero and their quirks. I also did some of my analysis, jotting down their combat strategies, their Super Moves, and also-"

"You basically did your own encyclopedia on heroes and quirks."

"Y-Yes." Midoriya stuttered and looked away sheepishly from how Onpa is now staring at him and the thirteenth volume of 'Hero Analysis for the Future' in his hands.

"Mind if I take a look?"

"Uh, sure." Midoriya handed over his treasured possession over to Onpa, who had put down his cup of coffee on a nearby ledge as he quickly flipped through the notebook.

"It's… _very detailed._" Onpa commented while nodding his head. "I didn't know you could draw so well."

"I-I-It's… I-I-I… It's nothing at all! Ahahaha!" Midoriya mentally beat himself up again for not knowing how to handle praise. _At least say something coherent!_

"You did your analysis on _us_ as well?"

"U-Uh, all of you have such c-cool quirks!" Midoriya stammered when Onpa flipped to the section of what he knew about each of his classmates' quirks and abilities. "S-So I just… you know…"

"My page is relatively blank compared to the rest." Onpa hummed in thought and Midoriya winced. What's he supposed to say? He didn't see Onpa in action in the Battle Trial because he had passed out and was at Recovery Girl's. He saw how Onpa fought at the USJ but he was too busy moping yesterday to fill in what he knew yet.

"_Quirk: Sound Wave. Manipulate the very essence of sound. _Uraraka or Iida told you that? Cos that was the exact words I told the class during the Battle Trial. _Known moves: Able to artificially induce auditory based motion sickness. Sonic Bullet. Enough to knock someone down in a non-lethal manner at 2% capacity. Can destroy a zero pointer at 100% capacity but would leave Onpa momentarily weak and defenceless. Costume includes metal gauntlets and boots, presumably to help him with his quirk usage although not much is known yet. Has a katana, so assumed proficiency with swordsmanship. Wears earmuffs because of superhearing ability. _Jeez, you really write **_everything _**you can think of, don't you?"

"Erm, yes?" Midoriya cringed at that statement.

"_Questions: What exactly does Sound Wave do? What does he mean by manipulating the very essence of sound? Is the superhearing a result of his quirk? Is the quirk an Emitter or a Mutant quirk type? If it is Emitter type, why can't it be turned off? Why rely on earmuffs? _You know what, I ask that question myself everyday. Let's see what else you wrote here… _Why doesn't Onpa have a similar combat style as Present Mic? Is it because the quirks are actually entirely different, or something else? Why-_ Alright, I think I read enough to know what's going on."

Onpa took the pen Midoriya sandwiched within the notebook before scribbling something on his own page.

"I mean what I said. When I said my quirk is able to manipulate the very essence of sound, it does just that. Amplitude, frequency, timbre, basically anything that has a relation to sound, I can manipulate it if I put in enough effort." Onpa said without looking up as he continued to scribble. "As for what type of quirk is it exactly, it's been classified as Emitter although nobody has any idea why my superhearing cannot be turned off if that is the case. Maybe it's because my dad's quirk an Emitter type and my mum's quirk is a Mutant type and the mixture of the two caused this effect. Maybe my body is just too weak to handle the power of my quirk in the superhearing aspect and it is why I need to rely on my earmuffs. Nobody really knows."

"Wait, your quirk is a result of quirk mutation?" Midoriya asked excitedly at the thought of learning something new about this relatively unknown quirk. "What are your parents'-"

"Voice Change and Bat respectively. In fact, my siblings' quirks are all a result of quirk mutation too. It's kind of rarer than winning a lottery for all three of us to have quirk mutations. My quirk is the most suited for combat out of the three."

"Manipulate the very essence of sound! That's so _versatile!_" Midoriya cannot help but exclaim in excitement as ideas begin to swarm and multiply in his mind. "Think of _all _the things you can do! If we take into account the laws of physics, by manipulating sound you can manipulate sound energy itself! The things you can do with- _Is that how your Sonic Bullet was created?!_ Pure sound energy? The way you can suddenly get a burst of speed like how Iida does with his Engine at the USJ is also due to this idea, right?! That's so cool!"

"I don't know about the cool part, but your deductions were more or less all spot on." Onpa let out an amused huff as he returned the notebook back to him, which Midoriya received excitedly.

"There, I filled in the answers for most of your questions."

"Wait." Midoriya looked at the notebook in his hands before looking up at Onpa again. "You are simply giving me information about your quirk, just like that? I thought…"

"It's nothing that you wouldn't find out in time." Onpa snorted as he returned to sipping on his coffee. "Besides, I'm kind of curious as to what weaknesses you can find in my quirk or combat style. If I want to be stronger, to be better, then I need to know my own weaknesses and better early than late. I'm not worried that you will use this information to one up me or anything, because you will need more than that to actually defeat me."

Midoriya looked back up at Onpa. Is that sheer confidence or something else?

"Don't believe me?" Onpa seemed to read his mind with this next question. "How long have you been training to be a hero?"

"Uh, about ten months?" Midoriya thinks back to when he actually started to seriously train for real, which is right after the Sludge Villain Incident.

"Yui and I started to train ourselves when we were _seven_. You have a lot to catch up on if you want to be the No. 1 Hero. This is not something that you can easily triumph over me or the rest of us who had put in similar efforts since young, Midoriya. Like you, we are all here to be the very best that we can be."

Midoriya clutched onto his notebook tighter as he and Onpa began to climb the stairs since the first period would start very soon. Onpa's right. Unlike his classmates, he only started training for real less than a year ago while some of them had started training from a young age. It's a big gap that cannot be easily closed in a short amount of time.

That explains the insane amount of control Onpa had displayed over his quirk during his fight with the Nomu. He had been continuously training with it ever since he got it. No wonder he got strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the monster that is supposedly able to kill All Might, even if just a short while. While some of his classmates like Bakugo, Todoroki, Kirishima, Tokoyami are also strong and are powerhouses in their own right, Onpa must be at least on par, if not better than most of them. It's just that he chose not to display his abilities in a flashy manner like what most of his classmates do. He ended his Battle Trial so fast that nobody could catch a true glimpse of the destruction he is capable of, like what he did when he sent the Nomu, Shigaraki, and Kurogiri flying with just a single blast of sonic energy.

When he thinks about it, he's not even sure if Kacchan can defeat Onpa if the sound manipulator gets serious in a fight. At the very least, he's sure that Kacchan wouldn't be able to handle the Nomu as well as Onpa did. Kacchan did nearly got himself killed by that creature if it wasn't for All Might saving him.

Not only that, Onpa also implied that his quirk was hard to control when he first gave him advice on how to control One for All. This means that the Sound Wave quirk must have a certain level of lethality and destruction capabilities for it to warrant such a label, and to think that Onpa actually managed to achieve such perfect control over it now… Just how much work did Onpa put into perfecting the control he has over his quirk?

"You are overthinking things again, aren't you?"

"E-Eh?" Midoriya nearly slipped and fell on his face at the sudden question which snapped him back to reality. "N-No! I was just… uh…"

"I'm actually kind of impressed, Midoriya. You've only awoken your quirk less than a year ago, right?"

"Uhm, yes." Midoriya gulped and answered the question which he rather not have anyone ask.

"Then be proud of what you have achieved so far. For you to have a good enough handle of your quirk in such a short amount of time, to even qualify yourself to get into U.A. is not an easy feat. At your current rate of progress, you might really have a shot in becoming one of the top heroes."

"R-Really?!" Midoriya cannot help but ask excitedly. "You really think so?!"

"I mean, it's hard to tell now, but at least you do have a pure heart as expected from a true hero. That's my honest opinion." Onpa shrugged as they finally reached the floor which their classroom is situated at. "Someone like you who has the heart to do the right thing is rare in today's society. Having a powerful quirk is one thing, having a compassionate heart to do what is right is another. This is what separates heroes and villains, not the type of quirks we are born with. This whole hero society has its priorities backwards if we cannot tell the difference between celebrities and heroes, or judge others based on things that they are born with that they cannot change. Just look at Shinso and the ostracisation he faced on a daily basis. All because of the quirk he is born with."

"I'm… not all that special, Onpa." Midoriya muttered. "Before this, I was just another nobody. I had help."

"Give yourself some credit. Everybody had help at some point." Onpa snorted. "If it wasn't for my brother's and my cousin's training I wouldn't have survived the Nomu. Determination without the correct purpose is just wasted effort. Why else do you think All Might is still the No. 1 Hero? Why is **_he_** the Symbol of Peace? Because his heart is in the right place. This is why Endeavour will never surpass him and will forever remain as No 2. A true hero like All Might will always place others before himself. He is a compassionate man that makes people happy by continuously giving without expecting anything in return. That's why he is a true hero."

"I want to be like All Might someday." Midoriya stated as his determination flared up once more. He is the successor of One for All. He **_has _**to meet All Might's expectations.

"You already are. I can see why All Might is so interested in you now, Midoriya. You are-"

"E-Eh?!" Midoriya felt his brain turning to a stop. No,_ not again_. What if Onpa found out about the secret between him and All Might and subsequently found out about One for All? _Wait, he has superhearing! _Had he overheard their conversations or-

"- the same as him. Like him, your heart is in the right place."

Midoriya has to hold himself back from heaving an audible sigh of relief to prevent himself from giving anything away. His near slip when he nearly blurted about One for All to Kacchan had already earned him a scolding from All Might, he doesn't need to receive another.

"And here we are." Onpa remarked when they finally reached the doors of their classroom. With a push, he slid the door open.

It seems like the door opening caught the attention of the entire class. There was a brief moment of silence when the entire class focused their attention on them before they exploded into a cacophony of noise and action.

"Onpa!"

"You are really okay!"

"Woo! Welcome back, Onpa! Oh, hello Midori!"

"Uh, thanks?" Onpa let out an awkward laugh as they both entered the classroom and closed the door behind them. "I didn't know you guys were still that worried about me. I'm sure I texted everyone that I was fine."

"All you replied was _'I'm fine. Thanks for the concern'_! How would we know for sure?!" Iida got into his usual self again as his arms began to move up and down in a robotic manner. "Shinso wasn't of much help too when he simply texted us _'If he said he's fine, then he's fine_'_!_ And speaking of which, _where _is Shinso?! Lessons are about to start soon and he's the only one that is still not here!"

"Actually, that asshole is right. If I said that I'm fine, then I'm fine."

"Onpa!"

"Tch. Shut up, Four Eyes. If Karaoke got himself held hostage by that pale hand freak, then he's just another weakling."

"K-Kacchan!"

"If I recall correctly, that birdbrain would have turned _you _into mincemeat if All Might didn't get you out of the way in time." Onpa let out a disinterested yawn as he made his way to his seat. "Nevermind, whatever floats your boat, Explodiboy."

"SAY THAT AGAIN YOU FUCKING KARAOKE!"

_"K-KACCHAN!" _Midoriya pleaded as he physically held his childhood friend back. _Why?! WHY?! PLEASE DON'T FIGHT!_

"Hibiki's right, y'know." Shinso made his timely appearance as he finally entered the classroom. Midoriya saw him quickly giving Onpa a quick visual scan before turning back to face Kacchan. "At least he managed to handle himself against the brain monster for a period of time _solo _instead of almost getting himself immediately pulverised when birdbrain threw the first punch, _like a certain someone_."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ZOMBIE EYES?! YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME, HUH?!"

_Please stop antagonising Kacchan! Why isn't anybody stopping them?!_

"LET ME GO, DEKU! I'LL SHOW THEM WHOSE NUMBER-"

"Aaaaannnnnndd someone pressed the mute button on Bakugo again! Woohoo!" Ashido cheered out loud as the class roared in laughter at both her words and at how Bakugo is now obviously failing spectacularly on trying to make even a squeak with his obnoxiously loud voice. It is a comical sight to behold while he is thrashing about violently in Midoriya's grasp and the maniacal expression on his face.

"I knew you got my back." Shinso did a fistbump with Onpa as Midoriya had to physically restrain a muted Kacchan from trying to pummel Shinso and Onpa, who doesn't seem the least bit concerned of Kacchan trying to beat them into a pulp.

"Silence is golden. Explodiboy should keep that in mind once in a while."

"I knew it! You were the one who muted Bakugo that day on the bus!" Hagakure chattered excitedly upon learning this new revelation. "You just did the entire class a big favour, Onpa!"

"Yeah, you should do it more often!"

"Make this a class policy, a Bakugo's special!"

"How manly!"

_Stop pissing Kacchan off! Can't you guys see he's trying to murder you guys?! Why am I still the only one holding him back?!_

"If you think muting Bakugo is fun, then how about this?" Onpa suggested before snapping his fingers and Bakugo can be heard once more.

"-YOU MUTE ME ONE MORE TIME AND-"

A brief moment of silence descended upon the classroom when everyone in Class 1-A heard Bakugo speaking in a childish, girly voice that is typically found in girls about four to five years of age. Bakugo himself had covered his mouth with both his hands and had stopped struggling in Midoriya's hold, his eyes impossibly wide and unable to bring himself to believe what his voice had just turned into.

There was a slow clap and everyone turned to the source of it.

Shinso.

"_That_, Hibiki, was **_beautiful_**. It's a _masterpiece_."

"Why, _thank you_. Glad you like it. Feel free to record Bakugo's new voice and set it as your ringtone."

"Oh this is too _funny!_" Uraraka was the first to recover as she laughed so hard that she is now rolling on the floor while clutching her stomach. Many others followed suit. "A girly sounding Bakugo!"

"He sounds so cute too!" Hagakure gushed.

"I want to say that Bakugo doesn't sound too manly now, but that voice changing move was manly, Onpa!"

"Forget about that! Someone record Bakugo's voice _now!_"

"YOU SHITHEADS-" Bakugo screamed out only to force himself to stop when the same girly voice came out from his throat again.

**"There it is!"**

"He sounds like some AV actress from some hentai-"

**_SLAP!_**

"Thank you, Tsu."

"You are welcomed, Yaomomo. Ribbit."

"I got it, I got it!" Jiro yelled excitedly as she replayed Bakugo's recorded voice again through her phone. "Bakugo sounds so cute!"

"I'M NOT FUCKING**_ CUTE!_**"

"There it is again!"

"Guys! Stop agitating Kacchan! I can't hold him back any longer!"

"Huh, guess Bakugo's voice is half the reason why he has the scary vibe. Not as menacing once you change his voice into a cute one." Kaminari commented when he downloaded Bakugo's altered voice onto his phone, courtesy of Jiro who had just uploaded it onto the class group chat.

"DIE YOU FUCKING AUTOTUNE! GIVE ME MY VOICE BACK OR I WILL BLOW YOU TO ITTY BITTY BITS!"

"I got it this time!"

"Yeah, I recorded it too! Hey Bakugo, sing something!"

"HELL FUCKING NO! FUCK THIS! LET ME GO, DEKU!"

"Kacchan! _Calm down!"_

"We should _totally _do this to Aizawa-sensei one day." Ashido rubbed her palms together in glee. "Hey Onpa, you mind?"

"That will get you a detention by default, Ashido-san!" Iida looked absolutely horrified at the proposed idea. "As students of this honourable institution, we should not-"

"Sure, why not?" Onpa shrugged.

"Sounds like fun." Shinso grinned in that evil smile of his. "How about we swap Aizawa-sensei's and Mic-sensei's voices?"

"An energetic sounding Aizawa-sensei and a soulless Mic-sensei?!" Sero did an exaggerated gasp. "This is so…"

"SO MANLY!"

**"NO! IT'S NOT!"** Iida screamed, but his voice had also been altered into a nasally high one that got the entire class erupting into peals of laughter.

"DIE! DIE DIE DIE! ALL OF YOU SHOULD JUST EAT SHIT AND DIE!"

"Hey I want to try speaking in a different voice too! Onpa, please?"

"Me! Me! Change my voice!"

"Me too!"

"ONPA! CHANGE ALL THE GIRLS' VOICES INTO SOMETHING HENTAI-"

**_SLAP!_**

"OI, EARMUFFS! FUCKING TURN MY VOICE BACK TO NORMAL BEFORE I KILL YOU!"

"Kacchan, **_STOP trying to kill them!_**"


	13. Chapter 13- Get Creative

"That's all you can do?"

Shinso blocked another kick that would have left a nasty bruise on his left cheek. He tried to grab that outstretched leg, only for him to receive another kick straight to his stomach that left him winded.

"Still too slow."

Shinso gritted his teeth and got back to sparring with his best friend _(not that he will ever admit out loud, he has an image to uphold)_. That USJ incident had made him so painfully aware of his shortcomings that he knew he had to rectify it immediately. If he was stronger, faster, _deadlier_, then Hibiki wouldn't have to go through a near death situation.

Thus, the sparring session. A sparring session without quirks. All they are doing now is simply duking it out with pure hand-to-hand combat and even then, Hibiki is more than capable of wiping the floor with him. Still, Shinso knows that he needs it. He needs to get stronger. In cases where his quirk simply won't be enough, he will have to rely on nothing but his body and his wits to bail him out of difficult situations.

_He will be a hero_.

Even for someone like him who is born with a 'villainous quirk', he is determined to show the world that quirks don't determine the hero. He had promised himself this. He had promised Best Jeanist this. He had promised his parents, Hoshi, Hibiki, and Yui this.

_He will be a hero._

The path of a hero is one of constant struggle. You have to surpass your limits every single day if you want to climb to the top. There's nobody else that he knows of that is as disciplined and skilled as Hibiki, so he asked for his help. He told his friend to be as ruthless as he needed to in this spar.

As expected, it's not fun at all.

Aizawa sensei had told them about the upcoming Sports Festival that will be happening in about two weeks time. It's an opportunity that comes only once a year, so everyone is planning to give all they got to catch the attention of the Pro Heroes who are out there scouting for promising talents. He is no exception.

An uppercut from Hibiki to his lower jaw ended the spar. Shinso groaned in pain as he slowly picked himself off the ground and massaged his lower jaw, trying to ease the throbbing pain. Hibiki offered him a hand, which he took.

"I've been thinking of something." Shinso said as the both of them sat down at a corner, cold sports drink in hand as they cool themselves down at the corner of the school gym they are at. There are a few other students here, mainly the upperclassmen because they don't recognise any of them. "I realise I suck at ranged combat."

"Took you long enough to figure that out."

"Seeing Sero handling himself at the USJ got me thinking." Shinso ignored the jab Hibiki took as he continued. "What if I have something similar as well? Like a whip or something? It would probably solve most of my problems."

"You mean all you need is a capture scarf like what Aizawa sensei has. I told you, you two are so alike that it's not even funny."

"Capture scarf, huh?" Shinso pondered. "That might be a start. Do you think Aizawa sensei would teach me if I ask?"

"Dude, he's our teacher. It's his job to teach us." Onpa deadpanned. "Besides, both of you face the same problem with your quirks. Both your quirks don't offer any direct combat abilities and you two essentially fight quirkless if your quirks are somehow not applicable out there on the field. You have your electric shockers, but having another option should always be a good thing. Just ask him."

"I think I will."

"See? I told you that you are an Aizawa Jr."

"Shut up."

Yui entered the gym at this moment and spotted them immediately.

"Yui, over here!" Hibiki waved her over enthusiastically to catch Yui's attention. Before long, they are at it again. This time, it's a free-for-all between the three of them.

"Kind of weird that we three are the only first years in the Hero Course to be training in the school facility. You would have thought that there would be more." Hibiki kept up the conversation despite the fast-paced spar they have between the three of them. _How is he not out of breath?!_

"Maybe they are training outside school." Yui spoke up as she aimed a palm strike at Hibiki's face only for him to block it before backing off.

"What she said." Shinso replied as he and Yui unanimously decided to simply take on Hibiki two-on-one. Guy's too skilled in close combat for them to take him down alone.

"Hey! Stop ganging up on me! It's not fair!" Hibiki half-whined as he fended off their attacks with ease. "Yui, how about we pummel Shinso instead?"

"Sparring against you is more productive."

"Y-Yui!"

Hibiki twisted his body to avoid a punch from Shinso before landing an elbow strike into Shinso's gut once more, taking the air out of him.

"Too open, Aizawa Jr! You tend to overcommit too much!"

Yui took this chance to get the drop on Hibiki, only for him to dodge it without even looking. He grabbed hold of her outstretched arm and with a twist and a turn, Yui suddenly found herself restrained in some sort of lock.

"Not bad. Better luck next time, Yui."

"What gave it away?"

"Your footsteps were too loud. Try to soften it next time." Hibiki said as he released her from his hold. "Then again, most sound cannot escape my hearing and I cannot turn my superhearing off, can't really blame you for that."

"Cheater."

Hibiki simply shrugged at that accusation.

"Another round." Shinso tried to ignore the pain wrecking his body as he stood back up. It's common knowledge that the last stage of U.A. Sports Festival had always been held in a tournament style. His quirk is also known to his entire class and goofy as they are, they are not idiots when it comes to combat. At the last stage of the Sports Festival, his quirk might as well be useless to half of the Hero Course students from his year. He needs more practice in fighting quirkless, and quickly too.

"Remember, you asked for it." Hibiki merely raised an eyebrow at him before cracking his knuckles. "Ready for some tough love, Aizawa Jr?"

"Shut up, loverboy."

Hibiki was about to throw the first punch before he suddenly turned around and aimed a Sonic Bullet at the wall behind him.

"Who's there?!"

"My apologies!" Was the foreign voice that sounded out as the dust that was kicked up by that earlier attack began to settle. "I cannot help but be curious when I spotted you here, you see. Hado was right, to manage to sense my presence, you are really good for a first year!"

Shinso narrowed his eyes before rubbing it with the back of his hand to see that he wasn't hallucinating. Nope, his eyes are working just fine. The wall now has a face and said face is now speaking to them.

"You know Nejire-nee?" Hibiki asked, although his outstretched palm is still pointing at that weird looking face.

"Of course!" The face laughed out loud. "Who doesn't know her? She talks about you all the time even before I know who you are!"

A hand stretched out from the wall in a gesture of goodwill, which Hibiki accepted and shook after taking a few seconds to ponder over it.

"Name's Togata Mirio. Nice to finally meet you in person, Onpa Hibiki!"

"You are one of the Big Three." Yui said in realisation. "The one with the Permeability quirk."

"The one and only!" The face said with gusto. "Forgive me for I cannot come out of the wall without showing my junk. Normal clothes just come right off me and I am basically naked right now. Fine tuning my quirk is tricky enough as it is. Were you guys practicing hand-to-hand combat?"

"Yeah." Shinso replied before an idea struck him. He had nothing to lose anyway. "You mind helping out?"

"Sure!" The face agreed enthusiastically. "Just give me a moment to wear my clothes again and I'll be right back!"

"I remember him now." Hibiki said when Togata's face disappeared behind the wall. "The guy that went pantless in the previous Sports Festival because of his quirk, that's him."

"The Pantless Hero?" Shinso asked. "The topic of discussion that made quite a commotion on the internet forums last year because his clothes kept coming off?"

"U.A. received quite a number of complaints for that after the Sports Festival, or at least that was what Nejire-nee told me." Hibiki replied as Yui tried to block out the mental images that had traumatised her when she watched the televised U.A. Sports Festival last year. There's no way anyone will be forgetting that sight anytime soon.

"And I am here!" The upperclassman suddenly appeared before them in a jiffy, energetic and ready to go. "Let's see how you guys fare in a real fight! Quirk or no quirk?"

Hibiki and Yui turned to Shinso.

"No quirk." Shinso replied on their behalf. "This training session is to simulate a situation where our quirks cannot be used for some reason or another. Please don't go easy on us, senpai."

"Then I won't! Look out, my dear kouhais!"

Togata's words were barely out of his mouth when he sped forward like a speeding train, punching Shinso in the gut.

"Too slow! React faster! Predict your foes' next move! Villains won't wait for you to get ready in a real fight!"

Togata jumped up to dodge a low sweep from Yui while managing to block a punch to the face by Hibiki.

"Predict faster than the surroundings! Have some foresight! Use all the experience you accumulated thus far to think of the next probable move! THINK faster!"

Hibiki was on him in an instant, launching a flurry of blows that left Togata no time to think, forcing him to only react.

"Not bad." Togata complimented as he fended off the combined assault of the three of them, only looking slightly strained. "But I've faced worse odds before! **POOOOWEEEERRRR!**"

The only thing Shinso registered was the sensation of pain to his gut once more. The next thing he knew, his back was already on the floor and his body was aching all over while wheezing for breath.

_What is that?!_

"How's that? Did your eyes catch the speed of my punch? That was all physical, mind you. No quirk involved."

_"For real?"_ Shinso asked in disbelief as he picked himself off the floor once more. "How's that even possible?!"

"Practice, practice, practice!" Togata's loud voice rang out as he repeatedly tapped his finger on his own forehead in a rapid manner. "It's all about practice, my dear kouhai! You obviously lack the experience and practice the other two had! You have a lot to catch up on as compared to the rest. They at least managed to prevent themselves from getting punched in the stomach!"

"Doesn't make it any less painful." Yui hissed in pain as she tried to shake off the pain in her arms, a result of using them to block Togata's punch earlier. "Nejire-san was right, you really are strong."

"And if your quirk is active, the only time we can possibly strike you is in that short window when you are tangible." Hibiki spoke up from where he is now sitting on the floor. So even he had been knocked back by Togata? Just how strong is this upperclassman?

"Bingo! But knowing that and being able to do that are two different things altogether!" Togata said in an upbeat manner. "In any case, there's still about two weeks until the Sport Festival comes around. There's still time to prepare, my dear kouhais! Especially **_you_**, Mr Purple Hair! Your hand-to-hand combat is passable, but it is just that! _Passable! _You need to be _exceptional _at it unless you are telling me your quirk gives you other kinds of combat options!"

"No, they don't." Shinso admitted. "Direct combat will never be my forte given the type of quirk that I'm born with."

"I take it you are the one with the Brainwashing quirk that Hado talks about, am I right?" Upon Shinso's nod, Togata continued. "Well, then get creative! I won't go into details, but my quirk has many drawbacks too! Being permeable means that when my quirk is active, I cannot see, hear, or even breathe! Even then I managed to climb up this far with such a quirk when everyone told me to give up on being a hero! Everyone thought that my quirk is like a cheat, but it is not! It is what you do with it to make it your own personal cheatcode! Experiment more! Get more experience! Use that to predict what your opponents would do and use it to your advantage! Get it?"

Shinso nodded once more as he digested what he was told. Experience? Prediction? Turn his own quirk into his own personal cheatcode?

It may just be what he needs. Now all he needs is to think of what he can do to get to that level.

Togata hung around for a little longer to impart to them some tips on hand-to-hand combat before excusing himself, saying that he has something else to do but not before wishing them the best of luck. Even when he claimed that he was initially curious about Hibiki, this meeting with Togata Mirio felt more like the upperclassman was trying to coach Shinso himself.

"Seems like Togata-senpai took a liking to you for some reason." Hibiki commented as the three of them decided to call it a day and start to pack up.

"I have a feeling your cousin is involved somehow." Shinso replied as he stretched his arms to relieve the ache from his muscles. He is sure he will be feeling it tomorrow. "But Togata-senpai is right. I need to get more creative with my quirk, but how?"

"If you think about it, the only criteria for you to activate your quirk is to get your target to reply to you and they must have the intention of replying to you as well. What if you can activate your quirk without talking to them? Or give them the illusion that you are not talking to them, when in fact you are? The chances of them replying to you will be higher that way."

"And how?" Shinso asked perplexedly at his friend. "The moment people see my mouth move they simply clam up and not respond. There's no way my quirk can get them like that."

"Ventriloquism."

"Huh?"

The two boys turned to face the only female in the group, who still don the same expressionless face that they all know her for.

"Ventriloquism. The art of speaking without moving your lips. I remember seeing a ventriloquist performing his art on a TV show a few weeks ago. As long as people reply to your voice, no matter how it was produced, your quirk still works, right?"

"Talking without… moving my lips?" Shinso stated, still a little baffled.

"It's a dying art, but I've heard of it before." Hibiki noted as he stroked his chin with his fingers. "Because the lips don't move, the resulting voice is often different from your usual one. If you are good enough, it's like you can have more than one type of voice. It's like the voice just appears from somewhere else but in actuality they are still produced from your throat. It's like how your Artificial Vocal Cords work, just on a more limited scale. But people who use these techniques nowadays are often entertainers. Nobody really wants to learn these gimmicks anymore ever since quirks appeared because quirks can easily do what they can and even better. Just look at Dad's Voice Change."

"I'm pretty sure there are many videos online that can teach you how to learn ventriloquism." Yui said with a small smile. "Although I'm not sure if you can learn it before the Sports Festival. It seems like a very hard skill to learn and master."

"I'm doing it." Shinso said without hesitation. "If there's a way that I can get people to talk without realising that I am the one they are talking to, then I'm going to at least try. My quirk already puts me at a great disadvantage in direct combat, especially against mutant types. I will need everything I can get my hands on."

* * *

_"Murgh, duy, urgh, ahh-"_

A woman stood outside her son's room. Strange sounds have been coming out of there for a while now and she doesn't know what is going on behind the closed doors.

"Honey? What do you think Hitoshi is doing in there?" The woman turned around and whispered to her husband, who merely coughed awkwardly into his fist.

"Uh, our son is a growing boy, love. It's just a phase we go through at this age."

_"-oh, arh, tee, ah-"_

More grunts could be heard through the closed door where the two adults are trying to eavesdrop on what their secretive son is trying to do in his room. A slight blush bloomed on the woman's face at her husband's words.

"I-I see…" The matriarch of the Shinso family tried her best not to think too much about it. "D-Do you think… we… need to give him… _the talk?"_

The man of the house nearly choked on air at the mention of the dreaded topic of every parent in the world.

"D-Don't we all learn about it through the internet?! Aren't the teachers supposed to teach about it in elementary or middle school?!"

"_Quiet!_" His wife shushed him and they both covered their mouths because they were being too loud. After realising that their son had not heard their voices since the grunts are still being heard from his room, they continued their conversation.

"Honey. I'm serious."

Her husband groaned in defeat. Once his wife gets serious, nothing could change her mind.

"Fine. I'll see what I can do about it."

* * *

Shinso Hitoshi was about to turn in for the night. His throat is unusually sore tonight because of all the ventriloquism practices he had been doing. He is sure that he is doing it wrong because if he had done it right, there shouldn't be any soreness at all. That was what the online videos and websites made by esteemed ventriloquists said, if they are to be trusted.

Still, he needs to learn this skill. Support items are not allowed in the Sports Festival unless you are from the Support Department so he has no Artificial Vocal Cords to fall back on. He needs to learn how to manually change his voice, or learn the skill of appearing not to be speaking if he were to fight without any form of aid. That's the only way he can get the drop on people that know about his quirk without relying on his Artificial Vocal Cords.

Nevermind, he will try practicing again tomorrow night. He has made some progress on learning ventriloquism and while it is slow, it is progress. There is still about two weeks until the Sports Festival, he should be able to learn the gist of it by then.

There was a knock on his bedroom door before his father poked his head in with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Son? Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure." He replied as he sat upright on his bed. What does his father want to talk about so late into the night?

His father put a fresh box of tissue paper on the desk which got Hitoshi raising an eyebrow. He never really had a need to use those so he never put one in his room. If he needs them, he will just take a few pieces of tissues from the tissue box placed in the living room.

"I know this is kind of awkward, but…" Hitoshi's puzzlement rocketed to an all time high at the weird statement, but he still chose to let his father finish his sentence.

"I think it's time we talk about sex."

_...What?_


	14. Chapter 14- Preparation

"A-All Might! I think I figured out a way to utilise One For All properly without injuring myself!"

The eyes of the Symbol of Peace lighted up at his successor's words. What did Midoriya come up with this time?

"I got the inspiration after what Onpa told me about how he trained himself to use his quirk." All Might listened patiently as his protege began to start his muttering. "Why use 100% if only 2% is what you need? Why waste the other 98%? _Learn how to pace yourself_. _Start from the lowest output that I can manage without breaking my body before working my way up_, that was what he told me. That is also what you are doing, right? It has to be. If you have been continuously using 100% for every single thing you do, there would have been a lot of collateral damage done whenever you are out doing hero work. The only time you go 100% is when you have to attack, like the time when you fought the nomu! You only use 100% at the point of contact between your fists and the nomu!"

All Might's face breaks into a grin after hearing the speculations made by Midoriya.

"Splendid work, Young Midoriya!" He cannot help but heap praises at him after hearing that. "I honestly thought it would take you a lot longer to reach that conclusion on your own, but you exceeded my expectations once again! You are right, it is just not realistic and possible to keep going 100% for every single thing I do with my quirk. I would not be able to sustain my muscle form for even half an hour if I did that. The trick is knowing how much you need to use and whether you can control the output of One For All as what you desire it to be."

Both master and pupil grinned at each other. All Might grinned in pride at his successor while Midoriya grinned in happiness at reaching the correct conclusion. The starry night sky blanketed the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park where they are at.

"So how much of One For All do you think your body can handle right now, Young Midoriya?"

"I-I'm not sure." Midoriya admitted. "This is why I called you out. I think it would be wise to learn how to limit the output of One For All under your supervision instead of trying out on my own. Recovery Girl is mad enough at me as it is for constantly breaking my bones."

All Might inwardly winced at the thought of an angry Recovery Girl scolding the both of them. He had learnt the hard way to never piss off the elderly healer.

"There's only less than two weeks till the Sports Festival, Young Midoriya. Think you can manage to maintain a constant 5% output by the start of the Sports Festival?"

Midoriya sported a determined expression at his question.

"I-I'm willing to try! I need to be able to do this!"

"You will still need to work on increasing your physical fitness and capabilities in your own free time so that you can eventually handle the full power of One For All, but I suppose now is a good time as any to start on learning how to control 5% of it." All Might mused. "Alright, enough chit chat. Let's get started!"

"Yes sir!"

* * *

He didn't get enough sleep.

Although to be fair, it looks like everyone is the same. Kirishima comes into class as though he had a big workout beforehand. Kaminari comes in with what the class dubbed the 'Whey Look' with both thumbs sticking up in that idiotic manner. Asui comes in with her hair still dripping wet as though she had gone for a swim before the start of the first period. Jiro and Yaoyorozu both have a lethargic look on their faces. Midoriya's forehead is on his desk, obviously trying to catch up on lost sleep before class starts.

He himself would have gotten a little more sleep if he wasn't trying to clear the misunderstanding between him and his parents last night. He knew something was very wrong when his father tried to give him _the talk._

There were a few of his classmates who didn't look any different from their usual selves. Hibiki looked the same as per usual, still sipping on his morning cup of coffee and waiting for the caffeine to kick in. Todoroki is still being an ass. Bakugo's legs are on the table like always, his earphones plugged into his ears and ignoring Iida, who is trying to get Bakugo to take his legs off the table and '_behave in a way that befits this great institution'_.

Class went on as normal. Responses were lacking in every lesson because of how tired most of them are from doing their own respective individual training after school. Nobody has any energy left to answer their teachers' questions save a few. Any questions in english class were automatically thrown to Hibiki as always since he is Present Mic's favourite, something which Hibiki always grumbled about.

Basic Hero Training today is more of a gym session to let them all do whatever they want to train their own respective quirks considering the upcoming Sports Festival. There were some who decided to train by throwing themselves into combat, like Bakugo and Kirishima. Others like Iida and Midoriya chose to work on their physical fitness. Yaoyorozu simply studied a book with a spine thicker than his forearm.

Shinso decided that he might as well use this time to improve on his hand-to-hand combat. He needs a sparring partner since Hibiki is using this time to run laps around the gym with Midoriya.

He ended up sparring with Ojiro, who had kindly agreed to his request. Ojiro is arguably the most proficient in hand-to-hand combat in the entire class. He is the best choice.

"You cannot simply react, Shinso-san, unless you have extremely fast reaction time like Bakugo. You need to predict what I will do next before I start doing it. Also, you have to stop telegraphing your attacks. It makes you too predictable."

Both Togata and Ojiro said the same thing, which means that learning how to predict his opponent's moves is something that he needs to learn quickly before the Sports Festival.

"Is there a way to… _learn _how to predict?"

"Unfortunately, that is only something I learnt how to do after years of training myself." Ojiro said sheepishly with his hand scratching the back of his head. "All I can say is that you should expose yourself more to different kinds of fighting style so that you will not get blindsided by something unexpected."

A loud boom resounded where Bakugo and Kirishima are fighting it out to test the limits of their quirks. Everyone had quickly given them a wide berth when they started it.

"Why don't I show you a few ways to restrain people?" Ojiro kindly suggested. "You will try to restrain me while I will do all I can to get out of it. Sounds good?"

"Fine by me." Shinso said with a grin. "Thanks a lot, Ojiro."

"No problem. Now, let me first explain to you the basics of arm locks…"

* * *

There are two things that he needs to do to allow himself to acclimatise himself more and more with One For All's full power. The first is to improve his physical fitness. The second is to improve and train his control over One For All. Since he will be training himself in the latter under All Might's supervision every night, Midoriya decided to use this gym session to train his physical fitness instead.

Thus, he is now running laps around the gym with a few of his classmates. Iida had lapped him many times already thanks to his Engine quirk. Uraraka is somewhere behind him. Sero is swinging himself using the tapes produced from his elbows to train his maneuverability and to increase the duration in which he can use his quirk. Onpa is running beside him. Like him, Onpa is not using his quirk, aiming to use this gym session to simply improve his physical fitness instead.

However, he is barely winded even after running for so long while Midoriya is starting to run out of breath. How many laps had they completed thus far?

"Made any progress with your quirk?"

"A little." Midoriya tried not to pant as the two of them made small talk while running. The longer he can keep up their conversation while constantly running at 70% of his max speed without using his quirk, then it means the better the improvement in his fitness since he first enrolled into U.A.

"I'm still... working on it, but thanks to your advice, I… think I found a way to use my quirk without breaking my bones all the time."

"Good for you." Onpa replied, somehow still having enough breath to hum a tune under his breath. How is he still not winded? Just how fit is he?

"Want to go straight for the obstacle course? You know, spice things up a little, have a little race and all that." Midoriya turned his head to where Onpa is pointing in front of them. A few of their classmates are there. He easily spotted Tsuyu, Ashido, and Tokoyami there at the obstacle course. It seems that they are taking a brief break from whatever they were training themselves in.

"Race you there." Midoriya decided after a few seconds. He needs to push himself even further than before and what is better than a little competition?

On an unspoken signal, the two of them simultaneously shot off in a burst of speed, unanimously deciding to not use their quirks since the whole point of their gym session today is to simply train their physical fitness. They got to the starting line of the obstacle course at about the same time. With a jump and a push, they easily cleared the low wall before they started hopping over small flat platforms jutting out from the ground.

Onpa started to gain a small lead when he climbed a vertically hanging thick rope faster than Midoriya did, allowing him to reach the top faster and continue their little competition. Midoriya had to make up for it by running even faster when he finally cleared the rope obstacle.

The next obstacle was to clear a horizontal wooden beam with the thickness of only a foot wide placed at least three meters off the ground. One wrong step and it will be a painful fall for any of them. Looking at the gap between him and Onpa, Midoriya decided that now is not the time to let his fear of heights overtake him. He also cannot afford to be slowly walking through the narrow beam.

So, he ran on it, trusting his sense of balance to not fail him.

It did close the distance between him and Onpa since Onpa had slowed down a little at that particular obstacle. The two of them are now at the climbing wall as they both tried their best to clear it faster than the other.

Midoriya's muscles are screaming in pain at this point but he knows this is just what he needs. He needs to push himself even further in order to improve. He needs to learn how to squeeze out every bit of energy he has on reserve and just keep going, like what All Might always did in the face of adversity.

It's all about going Plus Ultra.

Both of them reached the top at about exactly the same time. They don't even have the time to look at each other before they start sprinting again up a steep slope. Once they cleared this, they would have reached the endpoint.

Midoriya could hear some of their classmates cheering for them. Guess the little competition between the two of them had garnered some attention from their classmates. He could even see a set of floating gym clothes at the endpoint waving at them enthusiastically. Is Hagakure acting as the referee?

To Midoriya's disbelief, Onpa is slowly pulling himself ahead as he picks up even more speed by running faster and faster. How is he able to do that?! Just how much stamina does he have?!

"Annnd... finish!" Hagakure announced dramatically the moment the two of them raced past her at the finishing line. "Woohoo! Great job, you two! That was so fast!"

"Onpa won though." Tokoyami spoke up as Midoriya and Onpa tried to catch their breath as they both leaned against the wall. "He is just naturally faster when it comes to running."

"Midori is just too rigid!" Ashido spoke up in that bubbly manner of hers. "He needs to be more flexible! Don't be an Iida! Got it, Midori?"

Midoriya nodded as he tried to catch his breath. Flexibility? That is definitely one thing that he hadn't been training himself in since he was so absorbed in trying to put on more muscles.

"Can't believe the two of you cleared the whole thing so quickly without your quirks, ribbit." Tsuyu said with a tilt of her head. "That's some crazy amount of stamina the both of you have."

"The better my stamina, the longer I can use my quirk. Improving my stamina is something I have to do if I want to be better." Onpa replied as he stood up and stretched, his pants not as loud as before. He turned around and offered a hand to Midoriya, which he took.

"That was fun, Midoriya. We should do that again sometime with our quirks."

"Oh, that's right. If Midori managed to get his super strength under control, he's going to be so much faster!" Ashido exclaimed with a clap of her hands. "Count me in too! I wanna try racing both of you!"

"Same here, ribbit."

"If it comes to a race, Dark Shadow and I won't lose too."

"Me too, me too!"

"You sure, Hagakure-chan?"

"Tsuyu~"

The usual class banter started again and Midoriya cannot help but let out a smile. He looked down at his clenched fist in front of him. Progress is small and it is not as fast as he hoped it will be, but it is still progress nonetheless. His physical fitness alone is already good enough to match even Onpa. If he ever got One For All under control, even if it is only less than 10%, how much faster and stronger will he be?

How will he measure against his classmates in the Sports Festival if he managed to harness the power of One for All? Even if it is just a fraction?

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"H-Huh? I-It's nothing!" Midoriya squeaked out at Onpa's question.

"Midoriya! Just speak your mind! None of us here will eat you. We are not Bakugo."

"I HEARD THAT, SEE THROUGH GIRL!"

Ashido whistled in clear surprise.

"How did he hear us with all the explosions going off around him?"

"I have no clue."

"Hey Onpa, try changing Bakugo's voice again!"

"Nah, don't feel like it right now, Ashido. Maybe at the Sports Festival?"

"That's a great idea! Imagine him going all girly sounding in front of the whole of Japan-"

"FUCK OFF AUTOTUNE!" Bakugo roared out as he continued to fight against Kirishima on the ground below them, his explosions getting bigger and bigger as the fight dragged on. "DO THAT TO ME AGAIN AND I WILL **END **YOU!"

"Hey, Sparky Boom Boom. You are _really easy _to rile up, you know that?"

"JUST GO EAT SHIT AND DIE!"

_Kacchan getting teased?_ Midoriya wouldn't have thought it was possible until he enrolled into U.A. People like Onpa and Shinso definitely have no qualms pressing all of Kacchan's wrong buttons. Then again, Midoriya has to admit that even he himself has no idea which of Kacchan's buttons are the correct ones. Are there even any correct buttons to press in Kacchan's case?

To make things worse, lately more and more people in his class are thinking that teasing Kacchan is a fun thing to do due to his explosive reaction to pretty much everything. Onpa and Shinso definitely have no problems taking every given chance to do so despite their obvious dislike for Kacchan's rude personality.

This is why he has to defuse this situation before the entire thing explodes in everyone's faces, quite literally.

"Uh, guys? I think we should just leave Kacchan alone-"

"Hey Bakugo! Can you sing for us?"

"GO SCREW YOURSELF PINKY!"

_Ashido, not you too!_

"How did you survive middle school with Bakugo, Midoriya?" Tsuyu questioned. "He's so unlikeable."

_Tsuyu! Please! Just **stop **it! Kacchan can hear them!_

"Kacchan is not all that bad-"

"FUCK YOU DEKU! FUCK YOU ALL! DIE! DIE! DIE DIE DIE!"

"NOW THAT'S **MANLY**, BAKUGO!"

The explosions below got louder as the fight between Bakugo and Kirishima got more intense due to Kacchan's building rage.

"_Not all that bad?_ You sure about that, Midoriya? He's acting like a prickly pomeranian."

"P-_Pomeranian?!"_

"DON'T COMPARE ME TO A DAMN DOG, EARMUFFS!"

"See?" Onpa pointed to an enraged Bakugo below with a cheeky smile, who is still busy trying to take down Kirishima. "Isn't his barking so damn cute?"

"Onpa! Please don't antagonise-"

"OUTTA MY WAY, SHITTY HAIR!"

"Oh, he decided to ignore me in favour of Kirishima. I'm so hurt." Onpa purposely put on a hurt look and to Midoriya's horror, Onpa said the forbidden word that immediately got the battle Kacchan had with Kirishima to take a brief pause as an equally brief silence descended upon them.

"And I thought we were friends, **_Kacchan!_**"

Kacchan's body twitched once, then twice, and Midoriya hurriedly scampered away when Kacchan's body twitched the third time. He has no wish to be involved in whatever is about to happen next, had seen it too often to know where this is heading to. It was the correct decision to take as in the next second, a loud explosion rocked the entire gym and an angry Bakugo could be seen rocketing towards them.

"THAT'S IT, YOU EXTRAS! **DIE!**"

* * *

"That's what you said that got Bakugo so riled up earlier? _Kacchan?_" Shoji asked in disbelief as he and a few of his classmates sat together at the same table for lunch.

The last part of the gym session was a terrifying yet hilarious cat-and-mouse game between Bakugo and Onpa, with the former trying to hunt down the sound manipulator as they raced across the entire gym. Fiery explosions and sonic booms clashed and the whole of Class 1-A wouldn't be surprised if the whole of U.A. heard the din. The chase only ended when their homeroom teacher decided that enough was enough and promptly erased both their quirks with a glare.

_(There were many people who were secretly disappointed when the chase ended, because Bakugo's reaction was indeed a hilarious sight when he doesn't have things go his way and it is a lot more fun when they themselves weren't on the receiving end of his rage and explosions.)_

"Figured that the only word that can immediately tick him off is the nickname Midoriya called him by. Guess I was right. Man, his reaction was hilarious."

Judging from Onpa's unrepentant grin, he probably would continue to try to piss Bakugo off whenever possible. Committing such an act would have been akin to a death wish for most of them, but Onpa had proved himself to be more than capable of handling Bakugo at his worst. Besides, he did manage to single handedly deal with the Nomu by himself for a period of time, the bio-weapon designed specifically to kill the No 1 hero in Japan. That alone spoke volumes about his combat skills.

"Huh, what I heard from Hagakure was that you called him a pomeranian."

"Ah, that too! Doesn't he make you think of one? Especially when he goes 'die die die'? It's like a dog going _woof woof woof_."

Everyone took a moment to try and visualise Bakugo as a pomeranian and… damn. They can actually visualise that image in their head.

"He's definitely going to try and kill you during the Sports Festival. I'm surprised you made it out in one piece when Bakugo suddenly went crazy earlier."

"Eh, I'll be fine, Jiro. I'll just mute him when it happens."

"Or you can just make him go _woof woof woof_ during the festival."

A brief period of silence descended upon them.

"Sero, you are a _genius_."

"Thank you, thank you."

"Is this really a good idea?"

"Relax, Shoji. At least I'm not as heartless as Shinso. If it were up to him, he would make Bakugo run around like a dog at the Sports Festival the first chance he gets."

"I'm a little afraid of what kind of chaos you and Shinso-san can do if you two were to work together, Onpa-san."

Onpa simply let out a dramatic sigh.

"Me too, Yaoyorozu. Me too."


	15. Chapter 15- Day T Minus One

"Two stories up, on Dad's laptop in his study."

"You got that right. Took you long enough, but it seems to me like you finally mastered the use of echolocation." Mum said in a grin as she ruffled my hair when I managed to locate her phone using only echolocation with my eyes blindfolded. With echolocation, I can not only fight blindfolded, I can also use this skill to locate inanimate objects that don't produce any sound since all I need to do is to use echolocation to create a mental image in my mind. Mum's Bat quirk allows her to naturally use echolocation as easy as breathing. For my case, I have to train myself to use it with the same ease as her because whenever I tried to use this skill all I got was a sensory overload. It took me almost an entire year to get to this level of proficiency due to how complicated the whole thing is.

At least I managed to get it down before the Sports Festival.

"You are going to win the Sports Festival right? Right, nii-chan?"

"Eh, I'll try." I replied to my little sister. "There are a few crazy strong ones in my class. Do you know that Endeavour's son is my classmate?"

"Really? How's he like?"

"An ass." I deadpanned. "You'd thought that the son of the No 2 hero would know some basic manners. He hardly replies when spoken to and just has this condescending air around him. Maybe it's cos he has such a great quirk that he looks down on everyone around him. Nobody in class really talks to him because of it."

"Then beat him in the Sports Festival and get him to talk!"

"You make it sound so easy."

"But I know you can beat any of your classmates if you try! It's the _U.A. Sports Festival! _The _whole of Japan_ would be watching! Imagine winning even one of the three medals and getting all sorts of internship offers from the top ten heroes!"

"You just want me to win the medal for you so that you can try wearing the medal yourself." I accused, knowing my sister too well.

"Ehehe…" Hoshi has the cheek to not even look guilty at the accusation. "Pretty please?"

"Nothing is really stopping you from trying your best." Mum said as one of the servants served her some tea. "And your father and I are also kind of curious as to where you stand among your classmates. Being a hero has been your dream ever since you got into elementary school. You have been training for almost a decade for this. This is a good opportunity to see just how far you had really gotten, to see the fruits of your hard work."

"Imagine if the first, second, and third place are dominated by you, Hitoshi, and Yui-nee! That would be so cool!"

"Be realistic. We would need a miracle for all three of us to claim the top spots."

"Nii-chan~"

"I'm just afraid that I might accidentally kill someone if I went all out. Remember the time I tried to achieve the effect of resonance back at our old home? I nearly demolished the entire area because I almost lost control."

"Resonance? What's that?"

"You would know if you actually pay attention in your physics class."

"Urgh, _physics_." Hoshi scrunched her face up at the physics term. "Not touching it."

"So that means there _are _people in your class that can force you to go all out?"

"Hideo-nii!" Hoshi exclaimed in delight when Hideo popped his head in and entered the room. "You are back! How's it going?"

"Better than expected." Hideo laughed as he joined us. Our big brother is busy with the wedding preparations between him and his fiancee. They had known each other since middle school, which is well over a decade since Hideo is turning thirty this year. Soon, there will be a new member officially joining our family.

"Just so you know, everyone will be rooting for you and Nejire." Our big brother ruffled my hair. "Don't worry too much about losing control. That's what your teachers are there for. Just let loose and show everyone what you're made of, okay?"

"Yeah, just blow everyone away!" Hoshi agreed with exaggerated nods of her head.

Huh, why are they even more excited about the Sports Festival than me?

* * *

"Onpa! Shinso! We're going to hang out for a while, you two wanna join?"

Uraraka waved enthusiastically in our direction while Shinso and I were packing our bags. School ended early today because tomorrow is the big day. The U.A. Sports Festival will be commencing tomorrow.

"Sorry, Uraraka, I'll pass. I still need to practice something for the Sports Festival. See you guys tomorrow." Shinso replied in his usual monotone before he took his bag and headed out. According to him, he had taken Yui's advice and tried his hand at learning ventriloquism. He said that things are going well so far, as well as it can be when it comes to trying to learn that particular skill within two weeks.

"Ah." There was an awkward pause as Uraraka's partially outstretched hand hovered in midair, not really knowing what to reply to Shinso's lacksidal response. She turned back to me a second later, undeterred and that same cheery expression still on her face.

"Then what about you, Onpa?"

"Sure. Who else is going?" I agreed since I have nothing better to do anyway. Yui had wanted to do some private training on her own today and I decided to give myself a break since the Sports Festival is tomorrow. No point overexerting yourself now only to feel the effects on the big day itself.

"Iida, Midoriya, Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, and Sero! We are planning to try out that newly opened cafe just a few streets away from school!" Uraraka answered immediately as we walked over to the said group who were already talking excitedly in their own corner. "Guys! Onpa said he is joining too!"

"Finally! We finally get to hang out together! You and Shinso always disappear the moment the school bell rings!" Kirishima slung an arm around my shoulders as he gave a big grin. "Where's he, by the way?"

"Already on the way home. Said he had something to practice." I answered. "I take it that you guys decided to take a break from training as well?"

"Yeah. There's not much of a point in doing last minute training right now, is there?" Sero shrugged. "It's more important to be well rested before the big day tomorrow."

"Woohoo! Now we have eight people here! It's a lucky number!" Ashido cheered.

"Let us make haste!" Iida, being uptight as usual, spoke urgently while doing his usual robotic arm movements. "I had heard that seats are hard to get!"

Without further ado, the eight of us left school and headed for the cafe that got them so pumped up. Naturally, our topic of discussion is about the Sports Festival.

"So what events do you think the Sports Festival have tomorrow? I'm so excited!"

"The last event had traditionally been a tournament or sorts. I don't see a reason why that would change this year." I told them what Nejire had told me about a long time ago. "But the first two events of the festival always changes and there's no set pattern to how they design or decide on it. You really have to be prepared for everything."

"To test us on our level of readiness and adaptability to any and all kinds of situations! As expected from U.A.!"

"To be fair, Iida, the Sports Festival is like Japan's version of the Olympics. They have to make the events interesting or nobody would watch it." Kaminari said as he helped charge the phones of several of my classmates using his quirk. "Who knows? Maybe a cute babe would finally take notice of me and-"

"Not happening, Kaminari."

"Ashido!"

"I'm so pumped!" Uraraka exclaimed as she continuously punched her fist into the air, an action mirrored by Kirishima. "Fist against fist… it's the manliest showdown in the whole of Japan!"

"YEAH!"

"You don't seem to be really hyped about the Sports Festival, Onpa." Sero noted as we continued to walk down the street, hands in his pockets.

"The whole point of the Sports Festival is to get Pro Heroes to notice us so that we will get internship offers, right?" I shrugged. "Then so long as we ensure that the camera is on us most of the time, we would have fulfilled our purpose of participating in the Sports Festival. Winning or losing is not that important if you think about it that way. Making an impression is. As long as people don't forget about you then you are already the biggest winner."

"But you would still need to do decently well to achieve that."

"If it's Onpa, then it's fine. He's good enough to go against that Nomu thing and even Bakugo has trouble trying to catch him." Sero said with a grin, referring to the cat-and-mouse game Bakugo and I had at the gym after I pressed too many of his wrong buttons. "Who knows? Maybe he can beat even Todoroki."

"I doubt that." I said dryly.

The Todoroki name is not up there for show. Todoroki had undergone better and more training than I did since his father is the No 2 hero. Beating him is not as easy as it sounds. Although if I really want to defeat him, it's not impossible. I just have to play it smart. From what our class now knows after spending a month together as classmates, we speculated that Todoroki's quirk allows him to use both ice and fire, enabling him to have a seemingly endless reservoir of power as it balances the individual weaknesses out. I shouldn't have a problem dealing with Todoroki's ice.

The fire side of his quirk, however, is another story altogether if he ever uses it. So far, nobody has managed to push Todoroki to that extent and Todoroki seemed weirdly stubborn on using only his ice quirk.

We reached the cafe soon enough. It was also just right before we hit the crowd.

"So… fluffy!"

Uraraka's expression got us laughing the moment she got a bite of the slice of cake she ordered. I myself ordered a cup of coffee together with a slice of cheesecake. Our conversation drifted back to the Sports Festival once more.

"-but if there is a race then Iida would do so well! His quirk is built for it!"

"That may be true, but let's not forget that my quirk doesn't really allow me to do quick turns and it is not the most flexible of quirks! If there's an obstacle course, then quirks like Sero's will shine brighter than mine!"

"That would really depend on what kind of obstacle course, if there is one." Sero pointed out. "If we have to swim, then people like Asui would have a field day with that."

"I wonder if the events would be fun? Like, maybe dodgeball? King of the hill?" Ashido said excitedly. "_Capture the flag?_ Or maybe-"

"Woah, is that Bakugo?"

Sure enough, we all saw Bakugo walking into the cafe the moment Kirishima spoke his name aloud. Bakugo also somehow managed to hear Kirishima's voice even when his earpieces are plugged into his ears while blasting some obnoxiously loud heavy metal music. I can easily hear it from here.

"Huh? What the fuck? Why are you guys here?"

"Hey Bakugo!" Kirishima waved happily at the annoyed blonde. "Come join us!"

"Outta my way, extras." Bakugo grumbled as he queued in line. From the looks of it, he's probably here just to grab a drink and then be on his way.

"Don't bother, Kirishima." I made sure to make my voice as exaggerated as possible when I purposely made a long and loud sigh. "Kacchan's just _shy_. You need to give him some time and personal space to warm up to us."

Bakugo's ear visibly twitched.

"Eh? So Bakugo is actually a _tsundere_?!" Ashido said it so loudly with the look of innocent realisation plastered on her face. She got my hint. It is taking all of my self control to not burst out laughing. "Hey Midori! Is that true?!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, DIPSHITS!"

Sero and I simply burst out laughing at that.

Don't get me wrong, I still don't like Bakugo. He's needlessly loud, annoyingly rude, too prideful for his own good and looks down on everyone simply because he is blessed with a powerful quirk. But being a member of the class for the past month has also made me realise that out of everyone, Bakugo has the greatest drive and desire to be the very best hero he can be. To him, to be a hero is to win every single battle thrown your way. His view of what heroes should be… I cannot say that it is _wrong_ because strictly speaking, it isn't. In fact, I can respect that. His only big problem is that he is too vulgar and is unwilling to socialise with most people. Take that away and there is actually not much to nitpick about him.

Besides, teasing Bakugo is also an extremely fun thing to do if you know which buttons to press. Calling him _Kacchan _is a surefire way to rile him up. Hence, that was how Shinso and I found our new favourite pastime in school ever since after the USJ incident: teasing Bakugo. It's even more hilarious when a flustered Midoriya tried to run damage control whenever we decided to do so, only for him to fail spectacularly because Shinso and I are way too good at taunting and riling Bakugo up.

"Shh, you need to lower your voice, _Kacchan_." I put a finger to my lips and shushed him. "This is a public area and you are still wearing your school uniform. You need to behave in a manner that befits the great institution. Isn't that right, Iida?"

"Onpa's absolutely correct!" Iida mentioned out loud in a voice that got everyone's attention in the cafe drawn to him. I think I might need to start dampening the sound around us so that we will not end up being a public nuisance. "As students of the prestigious-"

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCKING SHIT ON WHAT YOU THINK, FOUR-EYES! AND **_YOU!_** KARAOKE! I WILL KILL YOU TOMO-"

"Wow, you need to take note of your colourful language when you walk around in public, _Kacchan_. There are children here." I interrupted the blonde as I muted him again. Such occurrences are getting more and more frequent ever since I realised that I get a kick out of irritating him. It's surprisingly fun.

Bakugo simply gritted his teeth, the expression on his face so devilish warped that it won't be wrong to call it demonic. However, he chose to simply turn around to face the queue once more, choosing to ignore us while he fumes silently. He had long since learnt that once I mute him there's no way to unmute his voice until I decide to do so.

"It's official." Kaminari patted me on my back. "Onpa, you are now Bakugo's babysitter. Only you can make him shut up so quickly."

"_Please_ don't make that my official title."

Bakugo had turned around to scream at us once more the moment Kaminari mentioned the word _'babysitter'_, only that nobody could hear Bakugo because he was still being muted. It makes a hilarious sight though. Uraraka nearly spit out her drink when she saw an angry yet silently screaming Bakugo. It never gets old.

"Back in elementary and middle school, Kacchan was _never _teased." Midoriya said in equal parts awe and shock.

There was no mistaking the _'DIE DEKU!' _that Bakugo was mouthing at us. It is a miracle that his palms are not exploding yet.

Kirishima stood up and walked over to Bakugo. I don't know what he said to the angry blonde since I wasn't listening to their conversation but Bakugo ended up sitting with us at our table after he got his drink. I took it as the cue to unmute him.

"Hey, hey, are you excited for the Sports Festival tomorrow?" Ashido asked Bakugo excitedly. "What events do you think we will have to go through tomorrow?"

"Don't care, pinky. All I care about is rising to the top. The _undisputed _top." Bakugo grumbled as he drank his ice blend in one big gulp. How did he not experience a brain freeze by doing that?

Bakugo glared at us once more. If looks could kill, Bakugo's one would have been enough to send us to the afterlife a thousand times over. Bakugo's gaze slowly swept past every single one of us until it rested on me.

"Oi, Earmuffs."

I gave him my sweetest smile.

"Yes, Kacchan?"

Bakugo's eye gave another annoyed twitch at that nickname but he didn't explode violently like I expected him to.

"Shitty Hair said that you destroyed the zero pointer at the Entrance exams."

"Yeah, I did."

"Deku and Duck Tape said that you fought that stupid brain monster by yourself."

"If you count playing tag with that Nomu and managing to come out alive in one piece as a fight, then yeah, I did." I answered, already knowing the direction this conversation is heading to. "Why, Kacchan, since when were you interested in me? I didn't know you swing that way!"

Most of my classmates sitting around me choked on air at my remark. Uraraka had spit out her drink and the resulting mess had splattered on Iida's face, who was unfortunate enough to sit across her.

Bakugo didn't give an immediate response, but merely narrowed his eyes a little.

"Don't you _dare _hold back tomorrow, Karaoke. I don't care what shitty reasons you have for not giving your all during the heroic lessons when you have the ability to survive that shitty brain fuck on your own, but don't you **_dare _**hold back tomorrow. Got it?"

Bakugo turned his gaze back towards the rest of the group.

"And the fucking same goes to all of you. You shitheads better not hold back on me tomorrow. My victory would be meaningless otherwise. If I were to crush you dipshits, it has to be at your best."

Geez, competitive much?

"I-I won't lose to you, Kacchan!"

The constipated expression on Bakugo's face upon hearing that nickname he hated so much made me wonder if he had popped a vein in his head.

"SHUT UP, DEKU! NOBODY ASKED YOU!"

Bakugo can really turn down his volume. His voice is still as annoyingly loud as usual.

"Man, so you can be cute too, Bakugo!" Uraraka squealed as Iida wiped his face with a napkin.

"SHUT IT, ROUND FACE! I'M NOT GODDAMN **_CUTE!_**"

"See? Bakugo's a tsundere." Ashido cheekily pointed out. Bakugo may act all violent and snappy but nobody in our class is afraid of his temper except for Midoriya. In fact, we all find it kind of fun to tease him about it.

"I WILL RIP YOUR HORNS OUT, PINKY!"

The usual banter follows as Bakugo continues to scream and snap at every single one of us, the pressure of performing well for tomorrow temporarily forgotten in all of our minds.

So that is Bakugo's way to push us to do our best for tomorrow, huh?

Maybe Bakugo is not as unlikeable as I initially find him to be after all.


	16. Chapter 16- UA Sports Festival

"Morning, Yui! Excited?"

"Morning, Hibiki." Yui replied with a smile when she met up with her childhood friend. Today is the big day, the day of the U.A. Sports Festival. She has no doubts that Hibiki will do well. As for herself, she isn't so sure.

Besides, just a few days before Monoma did come up with a plan for the entirety of Class B so that as many of them as possible can rise to the finals to 'one-up' Class A. She doesn't like the idea of keeping the plan from Hibiki but at the same time, she doesn't want to betray the trust her classmates and friends have in her. She just cannot wait for the Sports Festival to be over already so that she wouldn't need to continue to keep this secret from him.

"Something's on your mind, eh?" Hibiki inquired as they waited for the bus at the bus stop. "If you want to share I'm here to listen."

She sighed. Of course she couldn't hide anything from him.

"Keep this to yourself, okay?" She told him and he nodded in agreement, so she continued. "Monoma has a plan to allow as many classmates as possible to advance into the second round. It's not like I want to hide it from you but…"

"I understand." He waved it off with a laugh. "We are in rival classes after all. Weird, huh? We had always been in the same class until now."

"Hibiki…"

"Just do your best, Yui. Give it your best shot and don't hold back because if you do, then it's not very hero-like. Funny how Bakugo was the one who got me to realise that part of being a hero, eh? Please don't tell him I ever said that though."

"_Bakugo?_" Yui frowned at the thought of the unpleasant fellow who she knows is the source of pain for Hibiki's ears.

"Don't get me wrong, I still don't like him. He's still a certified asshole in my book." Hibiki clarified upon seeing that look on her face. "But even I have to admit, albeit reluctantly, that he has a point in wanting us to fight him with nothing but our very best during the festival. Think about it. When you become a hero, it's all or nothing. You only have _one _chance for _everything_. Screw it up and people will die. It's fine if you are the one who pays the price for your own mistakes, but what if _other _people pay the price for _your _mistakes? Do you want that to happen?"

"No." She replied immediately. Just the mere thought of such a thing happening is enough to make her shudder. If people ever die because _she _makes a blunder…

She doesn't know if she can live with that kind of guilt weighing on her.

"So start cultivating that mindset _now_. Given Monoma's character I'd be willing to bet that his plan is something sneaky. I don't know what Monoma and your class is planning but I can safely tell you this, Yui. It's fine to hold a card or two close to your chest and only reveal it when you truly need them, but there's no point in holding onto them forever. When the game's over, no matter how good your hand is it's useless because you are already out of the game. Make good use of your cards while the game is still going on."

He turned around to face her with a smile on his face.

"So give this Sports Festival your best shot. Even if we both ended up facing each other, give me your best shot, because we are going to be heroes. There will not be any more second chances. If you really want to be a hero that saves lives like Thirteen then anything less is an insult to this profession and title. When people place their lives in your hands they expect you to do your best, so start making this a habit, starting from now."

She looked away, partly out of guilt and partly also because she knows that he is right. To be a hero is to save lives and help others. When people place their lives in the hands of the heroes they expect them to do their very best to save them, because it is the duty of heroes to do so.

"I… I understand, Hibiki. Thank you."

"Cheer up! You don't want to show that gloomy face of yours on camera later! The whole of Japan is watching! Smile~" He tried to pull at her cheeks only for her to slap his hands away with practiced ease. He always does this to annoy a reaction out of her.

"Stop that."

"You _really _need to smile more."

"Hm."

"Hey, don't you _hm _me now. I'm serious!"

"Hm."

"Wait, are you _ignoring _me?"

"Hm."

"Yui!"

"Hm."

* * *

"-so this is the plan! We can do this, because _we are Class B! _We are not going to lose to some shitty pricks from Class A simply because they faced a few no name villains!"

"HELL YEAH!"

The class gave a few cheers in the waiting room where they were gathered. Monoma had used this time to go through his plan once again. Admittedly, it is a very good plan on his part and he definitely has the class' best interests in mind. However…

_"So give this Sports Festival your best shot. Even if we both ended up facing each other, give me your best shot, because we are going to be heroes."_

She doesn't know what to do. Both Hibiki and Monoma are right. She doesn't want to let Hibiki down, but neither does she want to disappoint her classmates.

_"When people place their lives in your hands they expect you to do your best, so start making this a habit, starting from now."_

"-dai? Kodai? You with us?"

She only realised that she was daydreaming when Monoma's voice finally registered in her mind.

"Yui? You okay?" Itsuka asked in concern as she put a hand on her forehead to check her temperature. "Well, at least you are not having a fever or anything, but are you feeling well? You've been a little out of it ever since you came to school."

"Um, it's nothing…"

"You don't speak much but this is clearly not _nothing_. We are _classmates_, Kodai. If there's anything we can help with just tell us." Monoma cut in firmly with a look of concern on his face as well. Now, the entire class' attention is on her. Great. The very last thing she needs.

She sighed and mentally fortified herself for the incoming backlash she is going to get.

"I… I don't want to participate in the plan. Leave me out of it."

A brief period of silence descended the waiting room before everyone exploded into a cacophony of noise.

"Why, Kodai?" Monoma asked in genuine concern. "Was my plan not good enough? If so, just say it! I know I'm not the smartest so if there's-"

"Your plan is good, the problem lies with me." She struggled to get her words out. This is the most she ever had to speak in a single sitting and she's not comfortable with it. "I… I'm sorry, Monoma. I'm sorry, everyone, but this time, I don't want to hide my abilities. I… I want to do my best, because that's what heroes do. They only have one chance in every situation and they do their utmost best. If I cannot do this now and make this a habit, there's no way I can do it when I finally become a proper hero, so… so!"

Her fists are clenched. She doesn't even dare to look up to face anyone but she does know that she has to make her feelings known.

"I… I am not going to participate in the plan. I'm sorry, everyone."

Soft murmurs broke out here and there and she doesn't know what her classmates are talking about. She doesn't have ears like Hibiki. After a while, Monoma spoke.

"DId… Did you tell anyone else ab-"

_"No!"_ She raised her voice out of indignation before she realised what she had done. "S-Sorry for shouting, but no, I did not tell anyone about what we are planning, even Hibiki."

"Hey, it's fine." Itsuka came to her rescue as she subtly placed herself between her and the rest of the class. "You are not wrong, Yui. It's fine to do things your way and you are right in certain things. When we become heroes, we only have one chance to make things right. We should do our best then."

"I guess I should have expected something like this to happen." Monoma sighed and scratched the back of his head with a hand. "Well, I wasn't expecting everyone to be on board with the plan in the first place so it's fine. Don't think too much about it, Kodai."

"Sorry, Monoma." Yui apologised once more, not knowing how to further explain herself. "I-"

"It's fine." Monoma gave her a smile. "We all have different reasons to be heroes and we all have different ideals. If you think giving your all is what a hero should do then do it. As your classmate, I should be supporting you, not holding you down."

"Are you really Monoma? This doesn't sound like you at all." Tokage piped up.

"It doesn't matter what we do as long as we can put those Class A pricks _down _into the dirt and show them that _we _are the superior class." Monoma began to laugh maniacally once more as his superiority complex began to show once more, causing everybody else to either sigh in resignation, facepalm, or sweatdrop at his reaction and not in that particular order. "Kodai's quirk is a powerful one! So if she can-"

"Alright, enough is enough. Take a break." Itsuka promptly knocked him out with a chop to Monoma's neck, shutting him up for a short moment.

"Do your best, Yui." Reiko told her softly as she held her hands in hers. "Don't worry about us. If anyone could beat the people from 1-A, it's you."

"Yeah, Kodai's quirk is plenty strong!" Tetsutetsu yelled out. "Even the explosion dude has nothing on her once she gets going!"

"Remember the time she threw the small pebble in the Battle Trial and enlarged it to the point it demolished an entire building? I still have nightmares thinking about that."

"Can you please _don't _remind me of that? I was her opponent! It was freaking _scary!"_

Yui watched as her classmates went back to their usual banter. Itsuka placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, catching her attention.

"Next time you have something on your mind, just say it out, Yui. We are friends, remember?"

For the first time in a long while, her face broke out into a small smile.

"Yeah."

She really couldn't ask for a better class.

* * *

"Psst! Onpa! Do it! NOW!"

"The _entire _Japan is watching, Ashido."

"It's a once in a lifetime thing!"

"Yeah! Do it, Onpa! Be a _man _and do the manly thing!"

"I will get an _expulsion _if I do that."

"Do it! Change Bakugo's voice!"

I sighed and chose to temporarily mute everyone around me. Almost everyone had urged me to change Bakugo's voice when he was going up to give a speech and take the athlete's oath as the Student Representative. While I can agree this is definitely a great prank, the setting isn't right. There's a time and place for everything. Given how serious Pro Heroes are taking this festival and scouting talents from U.A., it will not be wise to pull a prank right now of all times. It will be stupid to do something to jeopardise my future career.

Besides, I have the Onpa name to uphold. I cannot allow my actions to blemish my family name.

So, it was with regret that my classmates watched as Bakugo gave the athlete's oath in his normal voice. That quickly changed when he instead declared war on everyone else.

Now I'm the one who regrets not pulling that prank. Should have changed his voice instead. Damn it Bakugo! What are you _thinking?!_

Still, I don't have the luxury to think. Already, Midnight is drawing the curtains open to the first event without any delays on her part. The countdown timer at the top is already starting to count down.

_Three._

"Good luck, though I doubt you need it."

I merely nodded back an agreement at Shinso.

_Two._

"Hey, have some faith in me! I'm not trying to brainwash you, I swear!"

I gave him a look that showed just how much I trust that particular statement.

_One._

"Really!"

**"START!"**

I didn't bother to reply. In true Bakugo fashion, I pointed my opened palms below me and blasted sonic energy to propel me straight ahead. It might have blown away some of the other participants from the impact but I don't particularly care.

Plus Ultra, I think I'm starting to know why that is our school's motto. Go beyond your limits. Surpass them. Be better than what you are yesterday, an hour ago, a second ago, be better than before and keep improving.

That is what it means to be a hero, because any less will simply not suffice.

* * *

_"In this Sports Festival, I want you to use this chance and tell the world… that **You're Here!"**_

Midoriya clenched his fist as he looked at it with determination, then around him as he looked at his friends. All Might's words still ring loudly beside his ears. There's only one thing that he has to do today in this Sports Festival, one thing that All Might told him to do that is by no means easy but definitely necessary.

Tell the world that he is here.

He's glad that he had help. Onpa's words from that day after the Battle Trial had given him a number of things to think over and theorise on how to control an uncontrollable quirk. Start small, pace yourself, explore where your current limits lie. After that, find a way to freely control that power within the limit you set for yourself and when it finally becomes second nature to do so, break through that limit.

It sounds so simple to the point that it feels laughable, yet he hadn't thought of it before. He owes Onpa one, that is for sure.

_Three._

The countdown had started and his eyes surveyed his competition. He saw Uraraka, who is lightly slapping her cheeks with her hands as a form of self-encouragement. He saw Iida, who is revving up his engines in preparation for this obstacle course which will no doubt be a walk in the park for him considering his quirk. He saw Onpa, who is standing beside Shinso and obviously choosing not to respond to Shinso's words, wary of what Shinso may do with his quirk.

He saw Kacchan, who is still having that same unpleasant scowl on his face and glaring at the massive door, waiting for it to open so that the race could start proper. No doubt his childhood friend is eager to give his all and clinch the top spot, to be the undisputable Number One that he always had been obsessed about.

_Two._

Midoriya is not the competitive type. Far from it, in fact, but today is different. Today, he has to show the world that "He is Here".

Midoriya silently sucked in a breath as he activated his quirk. Green arcs of electricity sparked across his body, catching the attention of people around him. He is still a long way from utilising the full power of his quirk, but at least this is better than nothing.

_One._

Midoriya lowered his body to a slight crouch, ready to take this Sport Festival by storm. There's no way he is going to fall behind any longer. Not after what he promised All Might, not when his mother is watching him live on TV and cheering him on. Not after how Onpa had given him a good tip on how to control his quirk. Not after the declaration of war Todoroki gave him, not after the speech Kacchan made on stage.

Right now, it's time to go Plus Ultra. It's time to show the world.

**_One For All… 2%_**

**"START!"**

That **_he_**_ is here._

* * *

_FUCKITY FUCK! HOW IS THAT KARAOKE BASTARD SO DAMN FAST?!_

Bakugo Katsuki increased the output of his explosions in order to overtake the stupid fucking autotune who like him, has the ability to fly through the air by releasing energy out of their palms. _Manipulating sonic energy_, that has to be it. No other explanation can explain how the blue hair freak can fly through the air that fast. The noisy bursts of sound that he is emitting from the speakers on his palms told him all he needed to know.

And then there's the half-and-half bastard. That fucking Elsa wannabe.

A loud and explosive boom that is certainly not his doing caught his attention. His eyes widened in disbelief when he saw just who it is that is catching up to him, running at a speed that can possibly rival the fucking Four Eyes.

_Deku?!_

HOW?! FUCK! **_HOW?!_** How did that useless Deku suddenly become able to run as fast as the goddamn wind?! Just a week or two ago he couldn't even use his bullshit quirk without breaking his own bones and now he can run at a speed that can keep up with him? **_HIM?!_**

**_FUCKING BULLSHIT!_**

If it were any other circumstances he would no doubt turn around to beat the Deku into the dirt, but this is a race. The winner is decided by who reaches the finishing line first, not by who beats who into the dirt first. So, Bakugo could only grit his teeth in frustration and with a loud yell, propel himself even faster. Deku aside, he still has to overtake the half-and-half and the autotune. For now, Deku can wait.

The zero pointers don't mean jack shit to any of them, that's obvious. Compared to the villains they faced at the USJ these robots are nothing. They had also left all the extras behind eating their dirt with the lead they had gained. Now, it's just him, the half-and-half bastard, and the annoying autotune who are competing with each other on who is going to take first place. Deku doesn't count because he's Deku and also because he's still behind them, even if he can begrudgingly admit that the Deku is indeed _a lot faster_ than he initially thought he would be.

Fucking Deku and his bullshit quirk.

And if the first barrier is a laughable joke at best, the second barrier means absolutely nothing. The third barrier, however…

_Perfect._

"OUTTA THE WAY, AUTOTUNE!"

With a large blast of explosion, he successfully forced the earmuff bastard to fly low and to keep close to the ground. Bakugo didn't waste any time to fire more bursts of explosions and detonate the mines beneath to slow the autotune down before charging ahead to catch up to the half-and-half bastard.

"Your declaration of war was to the **_WRONG _**person, half-and-half bastard!"

A wave of ice came his way but Bakugo simply blasted his way out of there and set off more mines in the process. He took the opportunity and ran ahead instead of flying because he will be reaching his limits soon, keeping in mind that he needs to pace the frequency and scale of his explosions before his wrists start to hurt. There are still two more segments to go after all.

He felt a chilly hand grabbing his arm and pulled him back. Bakugo retaliated with a kick, forcing Icyhot to let go.

And then, a blue streak zoomed past them.

"OH NO YA DON'T!"

Icyhot and him unanimously chose to put down their differences aside to prevent the Autotune from overtaking them and fired their quirks at him, forcing him to slow down. The Autotune managed to dodge their attacks with an annoyed scowl on his face before he pointed his palms at them. Bakugo braced himself from the impending sonic attack and so did the half-and-half bastard, already knowing what the sound changing freak is capable of.

And then a fourth competitor had to join them. That's not all, that person _just _have to be the fucking **_Deku_**. Somehow, the Deku had cleared the entire minefield with _a single fucking jump_. The only good thing that came out of this is that the Autotune had aborted the attack that he was planning on firing at them to chase after the Deku. He and the Icyhot bastard had also no choice but to chase after the fucking Deku because _fuck _him if **_Deku _**was the one who gets **_first place!_**

FUCK! HOW ON EARTH CAN THE DEKU DO THE IMPOSSIBLE AND CLEARED THE ENTIRE MINEFIELD WITH JUST A JUMP?! HE CAN BARELY USE HIS QUIRK WITHOUT CRIPPLING HIMSELF JUST A WEEK OR TWO AGO! FUCK!

_Fuck Deku! Fuck it all! FUCK IT ALL!_


End file.
